Wings of Gods
by Ssg998
Summary: What if Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura met on the nights of their tragedies? What if they grew up, trained, and became stronger together? OP Team 7, Rated T for swearing and violence.
1. Prologue

**Second Naruto fanfic. In this one, they start the Academy at six, and the Uchiha Massacre happens when Sasuke was five instead of six. Yes, Sakura's father is abusive. Yes, I'm going to make her _useful_ *gasps**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

* * *

"There you are, Little Demon!" The drunken villagers crow as Naruto sprints among the forests, his tiny five-year-old legs wobbling with exertion. As the crowd behind him gets nearer and nearer, a shuriken hits his thigh with a wet thunk, causing him to cry out in pain and collapse to the ground. The crowd approaches him eagerly, throwing bottles, stabbing with knives and glass, punching, kicking, breaking, shattering. He could only curl up into a ball and wait for them to finish. When they finally do, he stays in place, his wounds slowly healing, the glass embedded in his back melting away.

 _They're gone, right?_ He asks himself, looking around the training grounds cautiously before emerging from behind the bushes and diving into the lake. Soaking and spluttering, he washes off the dirt and blood, leaving pale, clean skin behind. Silently pulling on his clothes as he dries himself with the towel he stole three days ago, he walks among the training, shoulders hunched, eyes welling up with tears that he allowed to fall silently. _Why me?_ He asks, curling up in a ball beneath a tree and shivering as the night wore on. _Why do they hate me so much? I just wanted some food… I just wanted a blanket… why did that lady make me go out of the orphanage? Why does everyone… hate me? I did nothing wrong… I just want someone to not hate me, maybe even like me… What did I do wrong?_

* * *

Five-year-old Sasuke Uchiha runs among the Uchiha district streets blindly, tears gathering in his eyes at the dead Uchiha lying in puddles of blood, toward his home, his family-were they even alive?

"Ah, there you are, little brother."

"Nii-san! Everyone's dead! Everyone! Who would do such a thing?"

"Do you want to know who?"

"Who, Nii-san?"

"Me." Itachi sneered, leaping down from the lamp post he was perching on and striding towards Sasuke.

"You… you… why?" Sasuke whispered. "No, no, no, no, no! It can't have been you! Not you! Nii-san, tell me who it really was-"

Then, he noticed the blood splattered along his face, the blood on the edge of his katana, the blood staining his clothes-

"Why? Nii-san? Why?"

"I did it… to measure my container. To see how strong I was and how much I can take."

"So you did it just to measure your container? Nii-san, you bastard!" The young boy rushes at Itachi, clumsily swinging his fist, but Itachi caught the blow and stared down at him, smirking.

"Watch these eyes, Little Brother. Look at my Sharingan! Once you have eyes like mine, you will be able to defeat me. For now… I will not kill you. Let us see how strong you can get, how much of my container you can fill."

With that, Itachi vanished.

Sasuke stumbled blindly along the streets, searching for a place not stained with blood, shivering with cold and fright and sorrow. Finally, he reached a training ground where a small boy was huddled under a tree, sobbing silently.

"Are you sad too?" Sasuke asked as tears finally fell from his eyes.

"Everyone hates me… everyone beats me and throws me around and doesn't give me anything… why? Why? Why?" The little boy sobbed. Sasuke fell down beside him and curled up next to him, his body shaking with sobs.

"He killed everyone… he killed everyone I know and love…"

"Who?"

"My brother…"

* * *

Five-year-old Sakura Haruno curled up in a corner of the house, shivering with fright.

"YOU WHORE!" Her father roared, his fist lashing out and striking her mother in the face. "YOU LITTLE BITCH!" Another strike, and a scream of pain. As her mother collapsed to the floor, her father approached her, his face livid with rage.

"You're a little whore and bitch too!" He yelled, his fist and feet lashing out and striking at her over and over and over. Kneeling down, she felt him unbuckle his pants, and then her pants and underwear were being ripped, and her buttocks pried apart.

"No! Not Sakura, not Sakura!" Her mother wailed. Her father's hands stopped, and then he stood up, kicking Sakura's fetal body toward the door.

"Get OUT, and NEVER COME BACK AGAIN! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU BEFORE YOU LEAVE FOR GOOD, YOU LITTLE BITCH! I WANT A SON, NOT A WHORE!"

Two more blows, and she was flying down the steps as she crawled away, away, away from the monster who slammed the door shut. Standing up, she blindly ran among the streets, away from Konoha, into the training grounds where there were no people and only silence and fresh air and-

Two children, curled up underneath a tree, hugging each other, sobbing.

"Help me," she cried, fighting to keep her tears back.

"Help me, too!" They both screamed, telling their stories of murder and neglect and anger and grief. As the three children curled up and hugged each other tight underneath the weeping willow, their sobbing finally ceased, and yet they hugged each other tighter.

"My family hates me," Sakura told them.

"My family is dead," Sasuke said.

"I don't have a family," Naruto finally added on. The three stared at each other, saw the familiar anguish and grief in their eyes, one green, one blue, one black.

"How about we're each other's family now?" Sakura quietly asked, terrified, terrified inside that the last bit of people she had found would not like her, just like her father.

"Yes," the two boys replied. Embracing tightly, they fell asleep under the willow tree. When the Hokage and four Anbu members finally traced the three small chakras to their sources, that's how they found them: covered in bruises and cuts, tear tracks on their faces, exhausted and worn with grief.

Yet still embracing, still hugging each other's family.

* * *

"Hokage-sama, their chakra…" the Hyuga started, then stopped, squeezing his eyes shut and opening them again, Byakugan active, the veins bulging as he stares in awe at the children.

"What?" The Third Hokage asked, peering down at the three children, who they had moved to the hospital.

"Their chakra is… one unit. One entity."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's all one pool of chakra. It seems like someone has connected their chakra-chakra natures, amount of chakra-together. As if now… they can use each other's chakra when they run out… It seems like one large unit, one entity," the Hyuga explained. Hiruzen stared down at the three sleeping children, Sasuke stirring in his sleep uneasily and clutching at Sakura's arm.

"They could be the most powerful people in the world, if they wished…" Hiruzen whispered. Suddenly, Naruto sat straight upright with a scream, startling the other two children from their sleep. They glanced around, eyes wide with fear. All three children, children, staring around for an attack.

As if they expected to get attacked, expected to get ambushed or injured.

"You're alright, children," the Hokage whispered. "You're alright."

"Jiji!" Naruto yelled, breaking into a huge grin. It struck Hiruzen that he could still smile after all the horrors he had gone through.

"Where do I live, now?" Sakura asked the Hokage, who stared, brow furrowed, at Sakura.

"Her father kicked her out," Sasuke mumbled. "Hey, you can live with me…"

"Lucky," Naruto mumbled, before clapping a hand over his mouth and glancing at Sasuke, who had unfortunately heard.

"Are you lonely, too?" Sakura asked, staring at Naruto's red face.

"I live alone."

"Then you can live at the Uchiha district too, Naruto-kun!" Sakura told him.

"Wait, Sakura-chan-"

"No more nonsense, Sasuke-kun. Naruto-kun is living with us, too!"

The three children smiled at each other, Hiruzen looking on fondly. Yes, this would work. They could grow and help and heal each other, fight off the demons of depression and loneliness together, bear each other on the Wings of Gods.

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 **The prologue is short, but the chapters will become longer. Hope you like it!**

 **Please, please, please, please review!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1! 3,656 words! I'm proud of myself, lol. Enjoy! Any criticism or tips are highly appreciated.**

 **By the way, the last chapter was named Chapter 1 on accident. That is a prologue. Sorry!**

 **Disclaimer: For you lawyers out there, I don't own Naruto**

* * *

 **Chapter One**

"Team 7: Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura! Your Jounin sensei will be…" Iruka squinted at the name, then continued. "Your Jounin sensei will Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto Uzumaki, wearing his dark blue pants and t-shirt with his usual elbow-length blindingly orange jacket, grinned at his new teammates. Attached to his waist was the usual ninja pouch filled with many ninja tools, however, attached to his other side was an array of tiny scrolls, stuck inside loops on his specially made belt.

Sasuke Uchiha, clad in midnight black from head to toe but for the pieces of metal on his gloves and forearms, made his usual "hn" and looked away. Bearing no visual weapon but for the long chukuto sheathed sheathed on his back, his cloak covered the purple bands with seals on his wrists, containing a large amount of Ninja tools using the storage seal.

Sakura Haruno smiled at both Naruto and Sasuke, wearing a dark pink tunic and black pants with sturdy leather boots and black wrist-length gloves. Three pink dots ran along the cheekbone of the each cheek, and she bore no visible weapons or armor.

"Class is dismissed! Stay here and wait for your Jounin sensei to pick you up!" Iruka announced, then shuushined from the room. As Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura retreated to the back of the classroom, Sasuke formed six shadow clones and began to whisper orders to them.

"Shadow Clone number one, intercept all of the Jounin senseis and ask them for information about Kakashi Hatake. Shadow Clone number two, head to the library. Shadow Clone number three, collect information from him from previous Genin teams that he has tested. Shadow Clone number four, go to Anbu headquarters and see if he has been in Anbu at any period, if he has, collect info from his previous teammates and from the Anbu headquarters. Shadow Clone five and six, tail him for as long as possible. Now go!"

"Yes, boss!" Six Sasuke's said, before disappearing.

"Good thinking, Sasuke" Sakura complimented.

"Hn. Thanks for the chakra, dobe," Sasuke muttered.

"No problem," Naruto exclaimed.

One by one, the teams were collected by their Jounin sensei and left the building. Finally, Team 7 was the only team left.

"Kakashi Hatake, apparently, loves to be late," Sasuke told them. "Maito Gai told me that his "hot-blooded rival" is amazing at Taijutsu. Sarutobi Asuma informed me that his element is Lightning, but he knows over 1,000 jutsu. Yuhi Kurenai informed me of his proficiency in Genjutsu. His Genin teams informed me that not a single one of them passed, for a "rule" of being a ninja that they didn't do."

"I wonder what it was?" Naruto pondered.

"Moving on, his files were restricted in the Anbu, in which he has served for _ten years_." Sasuke continued.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"He's only twenty-seven, by the way."

"WHAT!?" Sakura exclaimed again, leaping up from his seat.

"He has failed four years of Genin teams, which means that he has been in the Anbu since 13."

"By the gods…" Sakura murmured. Even Sasuke, usually stoic and emotionless, looked slightly shocked.

"He became a Genin at 5, a Chunin at 6, and Jounin at 10."

"That's not possible. We're twelve!" Naruto yelled, shooting up from his chair.

"He participated in the Third Ninja War. Both of his teammates were killed. His sensei was… Minato Namikaze."

"The Fourth Hokage that saved the village and sealed the Kyuubi into you…" Sakura noted, tilting her head and fiddling with her thumbs in thought. Naruto nodded tursely.

"He's an S-rank in all the bingo books of all of the Nation, known as Kakashi of the Sharingan, Kakashi the Copy-cat Ninja. I don't know where he got the Sharingan from, but he's not an Uchiha for sure,"

"Hey, what are you doing, Naruto?" Sakura asked. Naruto had taken one of his tiny scrolls from his belt, unrolling it to reveal tiny, intricate lettering. Forming a few hand signs, the seal vanished from the scroll and appeared on the eraser.

"A freezing seal, to stop movement. It's his fault he's late" Naruto told them, grinning mischievously, carefully placing the eraser between the door and the wall, the seal side pointing down. "It should land on him when he comes in, placing the seal on his neck by transferring it through the eraser power. Just in case, use chakra to make sure it lands seal side down, Sakura." Just as the three lapsed back into silence, a hand wrapped around the doorknob and slid the door open.

 _A silly prank,_ Kakashi thought, as the eraser fell and landed on his gravity-defying silvery hair. His black mask and headband, covering everything on his face but for his right eye, forest green vest, and otherwise black clothing gave him the impression of a lazy douche. Stepping fully inside and picking up the eraser, he looked up from it's blank surface and studied his team. The Uchiha, Uzumaki, and the Haruno. What luck.

"Let's just say that the first impression I have of you three is…" he started, staring at the three students. "I hate you all."

Instead of the temper tantrum he expected from Naruto, a smirk flashed over all three faces, before vanishing. _Huh._

"Meet me at the top of the roof in five minutes."

"Let's go, guys," Naruto murmured, forming the sign for Shunshin and teleporting away. Hurriedly doing the same, Kakashi appeared on the railing of the roof, his three adorable little students already waiting.

"Hm… let's start with introductions first. My name is Kakashi Hatake, and I'm-"

"27. Your hobbies include playing with your puppies and reading Icha Icha. You specialize in close-range to mid-range combat, and your element is Lightning. Commonly known as Kakashi of the Sharingan, or Kakashi the Copy-cat Ninja to outside villages, you have used your mysterious Sharingan to copy over 1,000 jutsu. You became a Genin at 5, a Chunin at 6, and a Jounin at 10, and started serving in the Anbu at 13. You started training students, not passing a single one, at 23, correct?" Sasuke finished.

 _Eh? How does he know that much about me?_

"Correct. Now, you can introduce yourself. Say your name, hobbies, dislikes, and dreams." Kakashi told them after a moment of silence. "You, yellow-hair, go first."

"Alright. My name is Naruto Uzumaki, believe it! I like instant ramen, and training with Sasuke and Sakura. But what I like more is Ichiraku ramen! I dislike the three minutes it takes for instant ramen to get ready after you pour in the water, and getting beaten by Sasuke or Sakura, and people who judge other people without knowing them. My dream is to become Hokage, and get everyone in the village to accept me, believe it!" Naruto excitedly told them, finishing at a loud shout.

 _Hm… another Hokage dreamer._

"You there, stoic kid."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I don't particularly like anything… and I don't particularly dislike anything, either. I don't have a dream, more of a goal: to avenge my clan and kill a certain man."

 _Just as I thought._

"You there, pink hair."

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like spe-training with Naruto and Sasuke, and taking care of my plants. I dislike idiots-" a 'hmph' from Naruto "-and people who abuse animals. My goal is to… surpass Tsunade-sama!"

 _Hm, interesting. Spe-training?_

"Alright, meet at training ground #3, tomorrow at 8:00 A.M. Oh, and, don't eat breakfast, you might barf."

"Our 8:00 A.M., or yours?" Naruto asked after Kakashi's retreating back. Apparently, he didn't hear him.

* * *

 **The Next Morning:**

"8:00 A.M., my ass," Naruto muttered. "Hey, let's spar for a while, Sasuke."

"No, what if he is spying on us? He'll know our abilities."

"Fine, I'm just going to work on that seal I told you about," Naruto muttered, taking a decently large scroll from his pouch and a brush and bottle of ink. As he continued the lines of kanji, Sakura tossed kunai at trees, while Sasuke tossed his sword up and down.

"HE'S SO LATE!" Naruto finally screamed. The silence that ensued was filled with a promise of death for the unfortunate sensei.

Two hours later, Kakashi Hatake, perched precariously on the branch of a tree, jumped down from the tree and eye smiled at them all.

"Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the path of life."

"LIAR!" Naruto and Sakura screamed, as Naruto rolled up the scroll and put away the ink and brush.

"Now, let's get started with the test."

"Test?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"Yes! Didn't you know! Out of the 27 Genin that pass the Academy Exam, only nine pass the tests the Jonin continue to give! That means that you guys might have to return to the Academy!" Kakashi told them, with fake happiness. Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura glanced at each other, then back at Kakashi, who stared back blandly. _His eye has such a sad look inside, even when he's joking,_ Sasuke thought to himself.

"Now listen! This will be your test: you will need to retrieve one of these two bells from me. The person who doesn't get a bell will be tied to that stump without lunch… and… they will have to return to the Academy."

"WHAT?" Naruto screamed. Kakashi winced and covered his ears.

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura replied, hammering him over the head with her fist.

"Yes, Naruto. You will have until noon to retrieve the bells… Be sure to come at me with the intention to kill, or you won't get anywhere. The test starts in three… two… one!"

With that, all three students vanished.

Naruto watched through the bushes as Sasuke engaged with Kakashi in hand-to-hand combat. As Sasuke lunged at Kakashi with his sword swiping like a lethal cobra, Kakashi merely dodged each blow, even as Sasuke increased to a speed too fast for the eye to see. Suddenly, Sasuke was flying across the field, landing on the ground with a dull thump. Frowning, Naruto leapt from tree to tree, landing on the highest tree branch at the edge of the fields, where Kakashi was slowly approaching the unconscious Sasuke.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" **(Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu)** Naruto yelled, hands flying through hand seals before the dragon of scarlet and orange flames were flying toward Kakashi, who jumped back.

 _Holy Sucking Fhit!_ Kakashi yelled, jumping backwards from the flames, which lighted the ground around him. An orange blur was running, running toward Sasuke's body, but Kakashi scooped Sasuke up and held a kunai to his neck.

"Naruto, stop or he dies!" Kakashi yelled. Naruto stared at Sasuke, then at Kakashi. As Naruto's hands started to raise upward in the universal sign of surrender, he suddenly raised two fingers to his lips.

"Seal!" He yelled. As Kakashi started to feel his body stiffen, black ink marks spread from the tiny circle on the back of his neck to encircle his whole body, freezing him in place. _What… when? The only time something from him had contact with me was…_ Kakashi thought. _The eraser was marked with a seal… and I thought it was a silly prank, too…_ Pouring chakra into his limbs, Kakashi started to fight against the Freezing Seal locking him in place, slowly moving the kunai toward Sasuke.

"Damn it," Naruto muttered, before Sasuke was snatched out of his immobile arms. Breaking free of the seal, Kakashi began to chase them, but the two had already vanished into the forest.

"Damn it is right, I guess…" Kakashi murmured, examining the burn on his left arm from the raging flames.

"Sakura! Come out! Heal Sasuke, right now!" Naruto whispered. After a few seconds, Sakura leapt from a tree to land next to Sasuke's body, pressing her hands to his chest delicately before they were encircled with green light. Two minutes later, Sasuke let out a groan of pain, before sitting up and looking around slowly.

"Huh? Where's Kakashi?" Sasuke asked.

"Teme, I fought him off. Listen. I don't think we can defeat Kakashi together, he's extremely powerful. His taijutsu is flawless, his ninjutsu diverse, and he was strong enough to break one of my seals."

"What?" Sakura asked, eyes widening.

"I know. I think that we're going to have to work together to beat him," Naruto told them. Silence, then an almost evil smile spread across all three of their faces.

"Well, that definitely won't be a problem."

Kakashi was leaning against a tree when he heard a rustle in the bushes. Whirling around, he brought up his kunai just in time to meet the strike of a sword.

"Back for more, Uchiha?" He taunted.

"Listen, I'm different from the Dobe and Sakura. I can destroy you," Sasuke hissed, bringing up his sword for another strike.

"You really think so? I beat you last time, I will this time too," Kakashi sneered, effortlessly blocking another blow and flashing away, appearing behind Sasuke, missing the smirk on the arrogant boy's face.

"Cero!" **(Zero)** A feminine voice yelled as Kakashi prepared to knock Sasuke out. As his eyes met the emerald green of Sakura Haruno's stunning pupils, Kakashi found the chukoto of Sasuke and the fist of Sakura flying toward him. Ducking underneath both blows, he swept his feet out and attempted to trip Sakura.

 _Holy Sucking Fhit!_ He yelled inside his head again, as his feet hit Sakura's leg. Not Sakura's leg, but rather the invisible barrier surrounding it. Jumping backwards away from his two opponents, eye wide, he stared at Sakura, whose eyes were shut in concentration.

Around her entire body was a visible ripple, and as she opened her eyes to reveal ruby red, two whips of pure white formed in her hands as her pink hair started floating in the air with the power surrounding her.

 _She's forming whips and armor out of… pure chakra!_ Kakashi suddenly realized. _A normal Genin shouldn't have nearly this much chakra! This is almost as much as I have! And… how does Naruto have Katon?_

As Sakura rushed at him with inhuman speed, Sasuke's sword lit up with lightning, as if the very spirits of the jagged knives of electricity flashing through the sky had imbued themselves into his blade. Sparking from his fingertips flew small bursts of the chaotic element, and the demonic pair smirked at Kakashi.

 _Nor should Genin be able to channel chakra like that, nor possess that much chakra to hold that jutsu for so long… that can only mean that_ Naruto _is giving them chakra! Naruto must also be using the elemental type of_ Sasuke _to perform Fire… and with his Wind, Sakura's Earth and Water combination, and Sasuke's Fire and Lightning… These three are capable of performing Jutsu of all elements, and with nearly unlimited chakra from Naruto and then the Kyuubi… these three are powerful…_

Leaping backwards to avoid the two blows rushing toward him, Sakura's whip grazed Kakashi's cheek, which exploded in pain as Kakashi winced and avoided a spark of lightning from Sasuke's fingertips. While Sasuke's blows were short and brutal, formed of the white lightning from his fingertips and swings from his sword, Sakura's was smooth and flowing, almost like music.

 _Where's Naruto?_

As a strand of lightning hit Kakashi, who arched his back and grinded his teeth with the pain, he leapt back and lift his hands. They formed one sign: Uma.

"Katon: Goka Mekkyaku!" **(Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation)**

An enormous fireball consumed bush and tree as it rushed toward his students, who froze for a second, dumbstruck. _Oops. Might have overdone it,_ Kakashi thought.

"Naruto, now!" Sakura screamed. A second later, an orange blur flew from the trees straight toward the fireball. _What's he going to do about it, though?_ Kakashi asked, watching intently.

"Suiton: Suijinheki!" **(Water Style: Water Encampment Wall)** Naruto yelled, as he landed on the ground before the flame and slammed his hands into the ground. A wall of water rose from the ground, the fire slamming into it and melting into ashes and cinders. _Impossible… he either pulled the water from the air, which requires fine chakra control, or used his own chakra for the water… what is this boy?_

Naruto shouted at Sasuke and Sakura, both of which leapt away from Kakashi.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" **(Shadow Clone Jutsu)** Naruto yelled, before six smoke bombs crashed down around Kakashi. Coughing, Kakashi took a deep breath, before Sasuke and Sakura rushed at Kakashi, swinging their whip and sword. Suddenly, five twin voices rang out from above the smoke.

"Raiton: Kaminari no Ikari!" **(Lightning Style: Wrath of the Lightning Dragon)**

"Katon: Goryuka no Jutsu!" **(Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique)**

"Fūton: Ryū no Giman!" **(Wind Style: Wind Dragon's Deception)**

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!" **(Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu)**

"Doton: Tajū Doryūheki!" **(Earth Style: Multi Mud Wall)**

 _What? Naruto attacked his teammates? Is he really that desperate to win?_ Kakashi watched in horror as Sasuke and Sakura both screamed.

As four mud walls, curved inwards to prevent escape, rose around him, four dragons of fire, water, wind, and lightning swooped down towards him, the wind dragon flickering in and out of view, the water dragon nimbly dancing around flying debris, the lightning dragon sending out lightning bolts that hit the ground with shocking force, and the fire dragon roaring out columns of flame.

So Kakashi Hatake lifted his hand and raised his headband, revealing the blood red Sharingan.

The place where Kakashi-sensei had been blew up in a storm of elements, as Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto watched from the forest.

"Naruto, I think you killed him," Sakura muttered, staring at the dust rising from the explosion. Her chakra armor and whips melted away, as did Sasuke's lightning, as the Shadow Clones disappeared and Naruto swayed and nearly collapsed. In the distance the timer signalling noon rang, and as the smoke cleared, it revealed the absence of Kakashi Hatake.

"Damn, he got away!" Sasuke muttered, cursing quietly. Finalling collapsing to the ground, Naruto and the two other students looked up as Kakashi emerged from the undergrowth. His jonin vest had been tossed away, his sleeve ripped, a gash running down his chest and his left arm burned severely.

"Holy… fucking… shit…" he muttered, staring at Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. "Were those clones?"

"I'll heal those, sensei," Sakura offered, raising her hands to press them gingerly to Kakashi's chest. Flickering with weak green light, her hands trembled with exhaustion as the gash closed neatly and the burn lessened to a slight irritated pink as Sakura worked her magic.

"We didn't get the bells," Sasuke muttered, swinging his blade into the trunk of the nearest tree.

"Damn," Naruto offered.

"Damn is right," Sakura muttered, sighing and staring down at her shoes. Kakashi watched silently at the three students.

His heart ached as Naruto shoved Sasuke, who snarled back, the two glaring at each other until Sakura told them to stop, the two boys turning to grin/appraisingly glance at Sakura simultaneously. So much like his own team, which still haunted him every moment of his living day, that he still couldn't let go of, no matter how hard he tried.

But, perhaps, it was time to move on with some new comrades.

"I didn't expect you guys to get the bells… you are Genin, and I am a Jounin. What I wanted was teamwork, which you showed to the highest degree." Silence from the three nin, before a huge grin broke out over their faces. "Congratulations! You are now officially Team 7!"

"I DID IT! I'M A NINJA! I'M A NINJA!" Naruto screamed, jumping up and down in jovelty.

"Shut up, dobe…" Sasuke muttered, a tiny smile gracing his features.

"Come on! Let's go have some ramen!" Sakura interrupted, stopping the argument before it could began.

 _Obito… Rin… Sensei…_

 _This time, I will not fail…_

* * *

 **Jutsu:**

 **Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu-The user's chakra is kneaded into flames, which is then expelled in the form of a massive sphere or a continous flame thrower. The flames are capable of producing a crater in the ground and severly burning an opponent.**

 **Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation-The user's chakra is kneaded into flames, which is expelled in the form of an enormous fireball. This is essentially a more powerful version of Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu.**

 **Water Style: Water Encampment Wall-The user's gathers water around them, from a surface of water, the air, or their own chakra, and creates a wall of water to protect the user or several users from fire attacks. The wall's size depends on the amount of chakra ejected into the ninjutsu.**

 **Shadow Clone Jutsu-Creates tangible copies of the user able to do the user's bidding or attack on their own, with intelligence equal to that of the user.**

 **Lightning Style: Wrath of the Lightning Dragon-The user's chakra is kneaded into lightning, which is ejected in the form of a dragon. It's force is highly destructive, and even if it does not hit the target, it releases bolts of lightning that electrocute anything it hits.**

 **Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique-The user's chakra is kneaded into fire, which is ejected in the form of a dragon. Anything near it as it flies almost always gets set on fire.**

 **Wind Style: Wind Dragon's Deception-The user's chakra is kneaded into wind, which is ejected in the form of a dragon. Being made of wind, it is impossible to dodge. If it hits the opponent, they are sliced by invisible blades of wind. As it fades in and out of sight, it deceives the opponent into thinking the jutsu as failed.**

 **Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu-The user's chakra is kneaded into water, which is ejected in the form of a dragon. It moves in erratic patterns, making it hard to dodge.**

 **Earth Style: Multi Mud Wall-The user manipulates the earth around a target or themselves to form several layers of walls, which can be curved inwards to prevent escape or entrance.**

* * *

 **This took the whole week to write, so Shattered Glass won't be updated this week. Hope you liked the chapter! PLEASE REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 2

**I'm really sorry for the late post, I had a huge piano competition on Saturday.**

 **Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto.**

* * *

"YES! I GOT IT!" Naruto's voice suddenly screamed from the kitchen of Sasuke's house. At six A.M. Sitting up in bed abruptly, Sasuke looked around before realizing it was Naruto's voice still echoing inside the house.

"DOBE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP AT 6 A.M.? SOME PEOPLE NEED TO SLEEP!" He screamed back, rubbing his eyes and huffing with frustration.

"SASUKE-TEME, SAKURA-CHAN, I GOT THE SEAL TO WORK!" Naruto cried out, thumps from the kitchen showing evidently his bouncing around in excitement. Eyes widening, Sasuke and Sakura both shot out of bed and ran toward the kitchen. On the floor sat a scroll, about six inches in length and height, with a circle in the center surrounded by intricate writing. As they walked in, Naruto was opening one of the cabinets that filled the top half of one side of the wall, all filled with cup ramen. Withdrawing one of the Special Edition: Triple-Flavor Extra Delicious Limited Edition Miso Pork Deluxe Size Ramen, Sasuke and Sakura's brows creased as Naruto peeled off the top and place it on the seal.

"Watch, and be amazed!" He yelled, as the Sasuke and Sakura stared intently at the cup.

 _What's going to happen? Is it going to liquidize? Dissolve? Disappear?_ Sakura wondered, as Naruto activated the seal. _After all, he told us that this would be one of the greatest seals he would ever make… that it would help us immensely!_

The two smaller circles on the left and right side began to emit steam, and suddenly, boiling water shot out of the circles and into the cup, until it nearly overflowed, then stopped suddenly.

 _Wait a second…_ Sakura thought, staring at the cup. _Naruto, Naruto, wouldn't use his Special Edition: Triple-Flavor Extra Delicious Limited Edition Miso Pork Deluxe Size Ramen for an experiment…_

Then, the noodles in the cup ramen bowl began slowly to turn and stir itself, and Naruto was nearly writhing in excitement after about thirty seconds passed, slices of pork and vegetables appeared inside the bowl, summoned by a summoning jutsu set into the scroll. The noodles stopped stirring, and Naruto picked it up, staring at it like it was the holy grail.

"BAKA!" Sakura screamed, her fist sailing toward Naruto's precious ramen. A scream shattered out of Naruto's throat as his only bowl of Special Edition: Triple-Flavor Extra Delicious Limited Edition Miso Pork Deluxe Size Ramen spilled to the floor, the ramen splattering over Sasuke's kitchen tile floor, the delicious ramen noodles and soup spilling out…

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Naruto screamed, scrambling toward the noodles and attempting to scoop it back up, as if he could piece together the delicious meal. "WHYYYYYYY? SAKURA-CHAN, WHYYYY? WHYYYYYYY?!"

"BAKA! YOU SPENT THIS MUCH TIME ON A SEAL THAT STIRRED RAMEN AUTOMATICALLY?"

"And added pork slices and other toppings inside! And, instead of drawing chakra from me, it draws chakra from the air! I can make it-"

"YOU BAKA!" Sakura screamed, and she picked up the scroll, shredding it to pieces.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

 **Later That Morning:**

"Good morning, my adorable little team!" Kakashi exclaimed, jumping down from a tree branch to land in front of the three extremely peeved students, one of which jumped up and glared at him accusingly

"Now, now, calm down! My favorite flavor of jelly beans was discontinued, so I had to start a rally-"

"LIAR!" Sakura screamed. Looking around for another source of the loud scream, Kakashi found Naruto on the edge of the bridge, looking miserable.

"What's up, Naruto-kun?" Kakashi asked, genuinely puzzled at the forlorn look on his face.

"Sakura-chan-" *sniff sniff* "ripped" *sniff sniff* "my" *sniff sniff* "instant ramen stirring" *sniff sniff* "seal!" Naruto exclaimed, then bursting into sobs.

 _Instant… ramen stirring… SEAL?_

"Interesting…" Kakashi muttered, sounding not interesting at all.

"It would take the chakra from the air into the seal, and then imbue it into the seal, and then absorb water from the air and heat it, launch it into the ramen cup, and take the chakra into the cup and stir it, and then summon pork slices onto the top…" Naruto told him, sniffing again and sounding miserable.

 _Doesn't that usually take chakra from the user, to make the water and the chakra to perform the seal? Naruto just changed the very laws of fuinjutsu in that seal, and he doesn't even seem to realize it…_

"Well, you can make another one," Kakashi muttered, yawning "discreetly" before turning back to his adorable little teammates, the emo duck staring disinterestedly at the pond water, the pink haired banshee fuming while glaring at Naruto every so often, who sniffed once in a while, a few tears leaking from his cerulean blue eyes.

Yes, he was starting to regret taking this team under his wing.

* * *

 **At the Hokage's Office**

"Your first mission will be to... let's see here..." The Third Hokage mused.

 _Will it be to save a maiden in distress from a group of evil ninja? To save a innocent group of captives from a clan? To spy on the Hidden in the Mist Village?_ Naruto excitedly wondered.

"To find the lost cat, Tora. Her fur is dirty brown, and she has a pink bow on her head," The Hokage finally told them.

"WHAT?" Naruto screamed. "BUT-BUT WHERE IS A MISSION WORTHY OF OUR LEVEL? WE'RE BETTER THAN DOING SIMPLE ERRANDS!"

"Shut up, Naruto! Respect the Hokage more!" Sakura hissed. Kakashi dragged Naruto out of the door.

 _Sasuke was to the left of the target, Sakura to the right, and Kakashi-sensei in front of it. I was above, and when Kakashi gave the signal_ -Yeah? Yeah? _We all leapt at once! Landing on-_ Yeah? _A furry brown cat!_ Aw, come on! What's with all the build up? _It fought wildly, but we managed to overpower and subdue it, returning it to it's right owner..._

* * *

 **Three Hours Later**

"NOT! ANOTHER! DAMNED! D-RANK!" Naruto screamed, the tragedy of the ramen seal apparently forgotten, as the Third Hokage picked up the D-rank mission scroll and glanced through it.

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura hissed, elbowing him in the ribs.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but Genin your level are responsible for these types of missions while Chunin and Jounin take care of the harder ones," Sarutobi calmly replied as Naruto's eye began to twitch in rage.

"Actually, Hokage-sama, I would like to interject, since if I have to listen to any more of the emo music Sasuke puts on when he does D-ranks, I might die." Kakashi suddenly told the wizened old man. "The Academy reports severely underestimated their skills-"

"You told me they were accurate!" Sarutobi exclaimed, slightly angry.

"Yes, well, I had some important paperwork to get through-" a snort from his team "-so I forgot to tell you. Adorable little Sasuke here-"

"I AM NOT ADORABLE!" Sasuke indignantly exclaimed as Sakura giggled.

"Sasuke here, he's proficient in kenjutsu and knows how to send lightning through his blade. Naruto knows jutsu of all five elements and basic fuinjutsu. Sakura possesses delicate Chakra Control if that's what her technique is. Even I couldn't copy her Cero technique, I honestly don't know why…" Kakashi told Sarutobi, looking bored as he returned to Icha Icha Tactics. Sarutobi sent an inquisitive eye toward the three Genin, Sasuke looking bored, Naruto jumping up and down and quietly cheering, and Sakura glaring at Naruto.

"Team 7, you're dismissed for the day," Sarutobi told them. "Tomorrow, you'll start a C-rank mission, escorting Tazuna, a bridge builder, to his village."

"YESSSS!" Naruto screamed, this face lit with joy. "LET'S GO HAVE RAMEN!"

"Not more ramen, Naruto!" Sasuke groaned.

"Fine," Sakura replied, at the same time.

"NO!" Sasuke protested, looking furious. "UDON! UDON'S BETTER!"

"NO, RAMEN!"

"UDON!"

"RAMEN!"

"UDON!"

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!" Sakura yelled. "WE'RE HAVING SUSHI. SENSEI'S TREAT!"

"BUT-" Sasuke and Naruto said at the same time.

"Wait, Sakura-" Kakashi protested, looking slightly alarmed at the thought of paying for Naruto's meal.

"Come on, guys!" Sakura begged.

"Fine."

* * *

 **The Next Day:**

"Heeeeeeeyyy… whaaaat'reee theesseee littttlllleeee ppuuunkkksss dooooinnngggg hheeeeerreeee?" Tazuna, the bridge builder, asked, his speech slurred, as he stepped into the Hokage's office.

"Tazuna-san, these ninja are going to be your escorts to the Wave Country," Sarutobi patiently informed him.

"Thesseeeee littleeeee punnkkkss?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto. Before he could turn back toward the Hokage, a kunai embedded itself an inch next to Tazuna's ear, courtesy of a certain Sasuke Uchiha.

"We're not little punks," he growled, even as Sakura grabbed his arm and glared at him in warning.

This is going to be a very interesting mission… Kakashi groaned inside his head.

"IIIIIII AAAAAMMMM THEEEEE KKIIIIINNNGGGG OOOOOOOOF THEEEEEE WWWWOOOORRLLLLLLDDDDDD!" Naruto screamed, as he stared down at the small village below the cliff edge he was standing on. Stooping down, he took up a head-sized stone and tossed it down, watching it fall, fall, fall, until-

"OW!" A distant echo yelled.

"Oops," Naruto muttered, scratching his head.

"Hurry up, Naruto! You're falling behind, come on!" Sakura yelled from about ten feet ahead. Slouching, Naruto ran to keep up, falling in pace beside Kakashi as they continued to walk. Naruto bounced and yelled, loud as can be, until his foot landed in a puddle.

"Darn it!" He muttered, shaking the water off his blue shoes and orange pants.

A puddle of water? It's been a week since it has rained… Kakashi pondered, staring at the water, which had stopped rippling and was clear as glass. Anyhow, this is a C-rank, I likely have nothing to worry about.

As the group walked by, two figures slid out of the water, long black hair scraggly and unkempt, iron masks pointing outward covering their nose and mouth, leaving only large, demented eyes. They rushed at the team, two chains looping around and around their target, before they yanked. Hard.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto screamed.

"Target one, down."

They lunged at Naruto, who was staring in horror at the blood dotting the ground where Kakashi had been, frozen with shock.

"Naruto, you idiot!" Sasuke muttered. Leaping into action, he threw two shuriken and kunai, pinning the chains to the trees nearby.

"GET BACK, TAZUNA-SAN!" Sakura yelled, holding up a kunai defensively and pushing Tazuna back. As the attackers turned toward Sasuke, Kakashi suddenly shuushined into the battle, disabling and capturing their attackers in the blink of an eye.

"Sensei?" Naruto asked, astonished.

Kakashi slowly turned toward his team. Naruto's hand was now adorned with a small scratch, but otherwise, they were unharmed.

"I must say, good job, Sasuke. You too, Sakura," Kakashi told them, after some thought.

 _I… I couldn't do anything…_ Naruto realized, staring at the cut on his hand.

"Are you hurt?" Sasuke's voice asked from above him. "Scaredy-cat?"

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, leaping up in anger.

"These guys have poison on their claws… you'll need to take out the poison quickly," Kakashi continued nonchalantly.

"What?" Naruto exclaimed.

"This mission is out of our league!" Sakura suddenly yelled. "Let's quit! We need anesthesia for Naruto's hand, too! We need to go back to the village and see a doctor!"

"Hmm… this sure is a burden!" Kakashi muttered. Naruto merely stared, stricken, at his hand. "But I guess Sakura is right. Let's go back to the village to cure Naruto."

In one smooth village, Naruto's uninjured hand darted toward the tool bag at his side. Clutching a kunai tightly, Naruto raised it above his hand, and after a moment's hesitation, the kunai fell, the metal gleaming as it arched through the air, piercing the wound on Naruto's hand and spraying blood everywhere.

"Huh!" Sakura gasped. Sasuke looked astonished, while Tazuna merely stared.

 _Why am I always different? Why is it always me, damn it!_

"Naruto! What are you doing?!" Sakura screamed, as Naruto winced in pain.

 _I should be stronger… I've accomplished lots of missions and I've practiced techniques every day… And yet, I still lose to Sasuke… In brawls and duels, in Ninjutsu and Kenjutsu and Taijutsu…_

A droplet of blood fell to the forest floor, staining the dirt red.

"I'm never going to do something that will require someone to help me! I'm never going to be frightened and try to back out of things!" The rest of the team watched on in awe. Another drip of blood stained the forest floor. "I'm not going to lose to Sasuke. I vow that to the pain in my left hand." Naruto yanked out the kunai, causing blood to bubble out. "I'm going to protect that old man with this kunai. The mission is still on!"

Tazuna's face was of shock and admiration, Kakashi's of his usual boredom, Sasuke and Sakura's of admiration. Silence filled the air. Then, Kakashi finally spoke.

"Naruto, it's nice that you took out the poisoned blood so spiritly, but if you don't stop the bleeding soon, you're going to bleed to death,"

Naruto's face changed from heroism to shock and horror, before he began to shake and run around and around in circles.

"Aaahhh! AAHH! No, no, no, no, no, no, I can't die like this!"

"Naruto, show me your-"

"NOOOO! I CAN'T DIE LIKE THIS!"

"Naruto, you have a self-abusing personality…" Sasuke muttered.

Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna anime sweatdropped as Kakashi took out a roll of bandages from his backpack and began to wrap Naruto's hand.

"Now, Tazuna-san," Kakashi suddenly spoke. "Tell me why the hell we are being pursued by Chunin on a C-rank mission." His voice was icy cold and dead serious.

"It's nothing, must be a coincidence, I really don't know-" Tazuna stammered.

"Tell me," Kakashi growled.

Tazuna stared warily at Kakashi as he finished with Naruto's hand and drew himself to his full height, glaring at Tazuna angrily.

"Fine."

The team sat down, the three students talking quietly among themselves, as Tazuna turned toward Kakashi.

Tazuna told Kakashi of his predicament, of being pursued by Gato, of Gato's control of the Land of Waves, of the bridge he was prepared to construct in order to reopen trade and free the Land of Waves.

"So why not request this as an A-rank mission? Why not send for more capable ninja?" Kakashi asked.

"I thought it would draw too much attention," Tazuna muttered. "I expect you'll go back to Konoha and request more adept Ninja, right?" Staring at him, Kakashi nodded heavily before standing up and turning not back toward Konoha, but toward the Land of Waves.

"Come on, guys. We're continuing this mission."

"Wait, sensei, what about Gato and Zabuza and-" Sakura began to protest. She stopped in astonishment as Kakashi gave one of his rare, genuine smiles, his eye curving upwards happily.

"I think you guys can handle it."

* * *

 _There's no one there, there's no one here… no one there… wait…_

"Naruto, stop spinning around in circles and walk normally!" Sakura yelled. Naruto looked up and put down his hand from where it had been perched, open, on his forehead, in a "I'm looking for something far away" sign.

"There!" Naruto yelled, a kunai from his hand sailing into the undergrowth with a rustle. Everybody froze, fear spiking through Sakura and Sasuke, but nothing came out of the undergrowth.

"BAKA! Stop scaring us! This is the second time in an hour!"

"No, there!" Naruto yelled again, throwing a kunai in the opposite direction. As Sakura's fist thudded into Naruto's head, Kakashi walked toward the direction which the kunai had sailed and pushed back the undergrowth. Lying in the bushes was a thoroughly scared snow rabbit, which Kakashi frowned at before looking at Naruto, who sprinted over and hugged it to his chest, sobbing and apologizing profusely.

"I'm so sorry, little rabbit! I didn't mean to scare you!" He yelled, rocking the bunny in his arms, which quaked with fright as Naruto's loud voice deafened its ears. Sakura, Sasuke, and Tazuna sweat dropped for the fifteenth time that day, while Naruto continued to apologize.

A white snow rabbit in the middle of the summer? Kakashi suddenly realized, the hidden smile melting from his face as he glanced around discreetly before squinting back at the rabbit. Snow rabbits are only white in the winter, which means that this one was kept indoors… that means it must have belonged to someone!

"Everyone, duck!" He yelled. The tone of his voice, half in urgency and half in fear, made even Naruto duck to the ground obediently.

A spinning broadsword arced through the air, catching the light of the sun as it sliced through the air which their heads had been, thudding into the tree trunk behind. A pair of feet landed on the handle, and Kakashi jumped up and stared at the attacker, bandages covering his face, standing on the handle of his enormous sword and staring down at them all.

"Impressive…" He sneered, his voice a grating, rough sound, that sent shivers down Naruto's back. "No wonder they call you Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan…" A dark laugh. "I'll have you hand over the old man now." He continued, almost nonchalantly.

"Never," Kakashi growled. A gloved hand raised to his headband. "Stay away from this fight, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura."

"What?" Naruto asked, jumping forward.

"This is the teamwork in this situation, Naruto. Get into Manji battle formation and protect the bridge builder," Kakashi growled. "Fight me, Zabuza."

 _This battle… this danger…_ do I really want to do this? Sasuke asked, shaking slightly with fright as Kakashi and Zabuza drew their weapons, staring each other down. _I live in a world of battle and death… better to kill myself then kill others and fight-_

"Don't worry, Sasuke…" Kakashi muttered, sensing his fright. "I will never let my comrades die!"

"Oh, really?" Zabuza sneered. In a flash of an eye, he was in the middle of the circle that Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna had made, his blade flying toward Sakura's throat.

"Sakura!" Naruto screamed a scroll out in his hand. Sharingan wide, Kakashi stared at Zabuza intently, before, suddenly, Kakashi was in front of Sakura, his kunai inside Zabuza's chest.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, astonished, before water dripped from Zabuza's wound and the Water Clone fell to the ground in a puddle of water. The real Zabuza appeared beside Kakashi as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura leapt away. His sword flashed through the air, cutting Kakashi's body in half, only for that, too, to dissolve into water.

 _Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan…_ Zabuza mused. _You had already copied my Water Clone Jutsu when you looked at me attacking your pink-haired student… very impressive._

"Hidden in the Mist Technique!" Zabuza yells, raising two fingers to his lips on one hand and two fingers into the air on the other. Mist coated the air, but Zabuza could see Kakashi raising his fingers in the same action. "Monkeying won't beat me, Kakashi Hatake."

"Don't move," Kakashi growled from behind him. Shockingly cold metal touched Zabuza's throat, before he whirled around, grasping his sword to swing toward Kakashi, who ducked in anticipation of the attack. However, Zabuza's foot lashed out in a hard kick, which sent Kakashi flying through the air. Splashing into the water, Kakashi surfaced after a few seconds.

 _Kakashi Hatake,_ Kakashi Hatake _, just got kicked by this attacker?_ Sakura asked herself. _He must be… extremely powerful._

 _His taijutsu is smooth and unflawed, and his Kenjutsu is deadly and powerful..._ Sasuke realized, as Kakashi shook the water out of his hair and looked around.

 _Why is this water so... heavy?_ Kakashi suddenly realized.

"Shit!" He yelled as Zabuza appeared behind him, standing over Kakashi's body, laden with the heavy water.

"Fool," He sneered. Slowly, savoring his triumph, Zabuza formed nine hand seals, _Mi, Hitsuji, Uma, U, Hitsuji, Uma, U, Mi, Ushi,_ before his hands clapped together.

"Suiton: Suiro no Jutsu!" **(Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu)**

A ball of water formed around Kakashi, whose eyes widened with alarm.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, run! Sasuke's fast enough to take Tazuna, you two can leave, run, run, _run!_ " Kakashi yelled, as his three students glanced at each other before staring back at Kakashi, floating helplessly inside the water prison.

"Ah, your students will definitely escape, after all, I can only send a water clone or two after them… but you… we will have fun with you, Kakashi Hatake. Such a prized Jonin as a prisoner… how much I will learn about Konoha, I cannot imagine…" Zabuza mused loudly.

"I'll never tell you anything!" Kakashi spat. "Not even the most painful torture can break me!"

"Oh, really? After all, I was the one who first broke Ibiki Morino… he lasted almost three days, an impressive amount. But he broke in the end, he was singing when I was done with him."

Despite himself, Kakashi shivered. Ibiki Morino, broken?

"What are you doing?" Kakashi yelled at his students, who were muttering to each other. As Zabuza lifted a hand, two fingers up, to his lips, two water clones appeared, each smiling sadistically and brandishing a copy of Zabuza's weapon.

"RUN!" Kakashi screamed. The three students glanced at each other again, mouthing silent words to each other. A glance at Kakashi. At Zabuza's clones. At each other.

"Cero!" Sakura yelled, closing her eyes in concentration. Sasuke's sword was in his hand, lightning flaring through the blade. Naruto glanced at Sasuke.

"Do it, dobe!" Sasuke hissed.

"Guys, I might kill Kaka-sensei-"

"Just do it!" Sakura yelled. Naruto sighed.

 _What is he going to do?_

 _"_ Fine," Naruto agreed. "Fine."

Clapping his hands together, Naruto shut his eyes tightly.

"Yoso no Kami: Hajimari!" **(God of the Elements: The Beginning)** Chakra, visible gales of chakra, began swirling around and around and around Naruto, shimmering blue. Eyes screwed up in concentration, Naruto bit his lip as the chakra attached to his back in five, long, thick tendrils of chakra, which then flashed into Fire, Water, Air, Earth, and Lightning. The chakra tendrils formed wings on Naruto's back, and when he opened his eyes, they were wrought of starlight.

"Hm... perhaps I will have to... try! Against these puny little things!" Zabuza muttered. "Suiton Bunshin!" A water clone appeared beside him, who performed the seals for Water Prison Jutsu. _He's going to use his real body against them, using a clone to keep me trapped!_ Kakashi realized with dread.

 _"_ Run!"

"Never, sensei!" The three students yelled. As another ball of water formed around Kakashi, the real Zabuza yanked his arm out of the sphere of water and unsheathed his sword.

"It appears that I will have fun with you..." He sneered. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stared boldly back. "Let us dance..."

* * *

 **Zero:** A jutsu that allows Sakura to encircle herself or others with chakra, which protects her to some extent from attacks, both Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. If used on herself, she can form weapons, her preferred one being whips, out of Chakra.

* * *

 **See, here's what I asked myself the entire first Zabuza fight: why couldn't Zabuza just ask another clone to perform the jutsu and lock Kakashi inside and fight Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura with his real body? This might not be _entirely_ accurate, but still, why not? Anyway, I wanted to write it like this to make it more interesting...**

 **POLL CLOSED**

 **Hope you enjoyed! Please read and review!**


	4. Chapter 3

**I know it's short today, please don't hate...**

 **Disclaimer: No, I don't own Orochimaru. Oops, I mean Naruto.**

* * *

"Hidden in the Mist Jutsu!" Zabuza yelled. As Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura looked blindly around, Sasuke shifted to the side, tensing up, just as the legendary blade, the Kubikiribocho, sliced through the air where Sasuke's arm had been a second before. Launching into the air on the wings of elements, Naruto exposed his palms to the ground as a blast of fire arched from the wings toward the ground, Sasuke and Sakura jumping away just in time. When the smoke cleared, Zabuza, clearly unaffected by the attack, leapt into the air and sliced at Naruto, who swore as the blade sliced across his chest in a minor gash. Flying backwards, Naruto dove downwards as Zabuza flipped backwards and landed on the ground, a barrage of shuriken flying toward Sasuke and Sakura, who deflected all of them with a kunai. Sakura rushed toward Zabuza, whips outstretched, but he merely deflected all of them with a swipe of the Kubikiribocho and swung toward Sakura, the blade bouncing off her armor with a loud clang.

"Interesting," Zabuza sneered. Dodging Sasuke's attack, he threw his sword into the air ten feet behind him and jumped into the air, flipped, and landed on the handle of his blade.

"Tora, Ushi, Tatsu, U, Inu, Tori, Ne, Tatsu, Hitsuji!" Zabuza muttered, his hands flying through the seals. "Suiton: Suikodan no Jutsu!" (Water Style: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu) A wave of water swelled from the lake, forming the shape of a shark, before diving down toward Sasuke and Sakura. A multicolored blur flew through the air, before Naruto was floating in front of Sasuke and Sakura.

"USE A JUTSU!" Sakura screamed. Naruto didn't reply, frowning at Sakura before turning back toward the shark. As he outstretched his palms, a wall of earth growing from the ground, the shark crashed into the wall, the water crashing to the ground in a loose heap. Why didn't the orange boy use a Jutsu to stop the Water Shark, like the pink banshee suggested? Zabuza wondered, as he ran toward Sasuke, Kubikiribocho outstretched. Lightning flared through the air with blinding light as Sasuke's blade met Zabuza's, but as Zabuza bore down harder on his blade, Sasuke's sword bent, then shattered. Ducking under the still outstretched blade, Sasuke attempted to drive the broken end of the blade into Zabuza's heart, but only managed to shock him as Zabuza kicked him away.

"Are you guys sick of playing ninja yet?" He asked. "Is this all you can give?"

"We're not playing ninja!" Naruto yelled back. The three students stood as one, glaring at Zabuza.

"You have no idea what it means to be a ninja, little kid. Fight me! Kill me! Then, you might know…"

And so Team 7 flew into action. Sakura's whips flew, Sasuke's kunai struck again and again, and Naruto's wings of chakra became ever smaller as he struck with blasts of the elements, fire burning, wind slicing, lightning exploding, and water crushing. Finally, Naruto summoned almost thirty shadow clones, piling on top of Zabuza, who sliced through them easily and almost laughed as the three children leapt backwards, away from the threat they had foolishly challenged. A barrage of kunai arched around Zabuza, toward the clone, but Zabuza easily intercepted them and sliced toward Sakura, who screamed with pain as her Chakra shield was pierced, a large gash blooming blood on her right arm.

An enormous shuriken, summoned from the purple bands on Sasuke's wrist, flew toward Zabuza's general direction. Arching around the real Zabuza, it flew toward the Water Clone imprisoning Kakashi, who dodged the blade easily. Suddenly, a poof sounded from behind the Water Clone, who whipped around to see a clone of Naruto throwing a kunai toward Zabuza's water clone, who lifted a hand and then caught it between his fingers.

"Is that all you've got?" Zabuza asked, smirking.

"No, it's not," Naruto muttered, placing his hands in the Shadow Clone seal and summoning forty more clones.

"You've tried that enough, boy. It won't work at all," Zabuza told him. As the clones piled on top of Zabuza, who began to slice through them, the real Naruto placed two fingers to his lips, and Clone Zabuza, holding the kunai, froze as his eyes widened.

"A movement sealing tag! You little brat!" Clone Zabuza muttered. Attempting to free himself from the hoard of Shadow Clones on top of himself, Zabuza was unable to do anything as a shuriken flew toward Clone Zabuza, who vanished. As the water prison slowly collapsed to the ground, Team 7's sensei, Kakashi Hatake, collapsed to the ground.

"Damn it," Sasuke muttered. "He's out from lack of oxygen. Damn, damn, damn."

Zabuza's eyes were wide from rage and amusement.

"I must say, I didn't expect that tactic… you're better than you look… but your sensei is most likely dead… what will you do now?"

Naruto, back slumped and chest heaving, stared in panic at Kakashi's body. The wings of Chakra had vanished, Sakura's Cero had deactivated, and Sasuke was devoid of lightning.

"What will you do now, I wonder, with most of your chakra depleted by that little act?" Zabuza mused. "Anyhow, now I will have to kill you."

Before any of them had realized he moved, Zabuza was next to Naruto, kicking away Sasuke, felling Sakura with a punch. Leaning toward Naruto, he almost looked like he was whispering a secret into a lover's ear. Ten feet away, Sasuke landed with a terrible crunch of bones breaking.

"Your Ninjutsu won't be possible without an arm…" And then, his blade, raised above his head, fell, slicing off Naruto's arm from the elbow down. Naruto screamed, a high, shrill, child's scream, and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Weakly, Sasuke raised himself up on his arms, only to collapse again. Sakura groaned, the gash on her arm still bleeding, but didn't get up. The stump that was Naruto's left arm began to ooze blood, and Zabuza smiled sadistically, slowly walking over to Sasuke's prone body, raising the Kubikiribocho above his head. After a second of savoring the victory, Zabuza's blade fell.

Only to strike, with an ear splitting clang, the armor on a black glove. Staring down in astonishment, Zabuza met the eyes of Kakashi Hatake, one red, one black, silver hair dripping water, fury coating every movement. In an instant, Kakashi flipped the blade up and out of Zabuza's hands, and as the legendary Kubikiribocho crashed to the ground, Kakashi's other hand, grasping a kunai, lit up with lightning. A distinct sound of chirping filled the air as Kakashi grasped Zabuza's arm, hard, with his right hand.

The Raikiri lit the air around it, everything else around it seeming dark and dim compared to its glory as it burrowed into Zabuza's chest and pierced his heart. With a small sigh, Zabuza collapsed to the ground, and Kakashi dropped down onto his knees, staring at Naruto's left arm, or the lack thereof, at Sasuke's shattered blade and broken leg, at the blood pooling around Sakura's wounds.

 _I'm sorry._

 _I'm so, so sorry._

 _I failed you again._

* * *

 _"Look, Naruto, Sakura!" Eight-year-old Sasuke yelled, brandishing a pile of enormous scrolls at the two children waiting in the forest clearing for the raven-haired emo to appear._

 _"What? What'd you get, Sasuke?" Naruto asked excitedly. Two scrolls lay abandoned, rifled through nearly twenty times by the three eager learners, labeled 'The Basics of Taijutsu' and 'The Basics of Ninjutsu.'_

 _"Look, look!" He said again. Flushed with excitement, the three children dropped to their knees around the scrolls, staring down at their titles. Among them were 'Basic Kenjutsu,' 'Jutsu of the Five Elements,' 'Advanced Chakra Control,' 'Basic Healing Jutsu,' and 'Mastery of Kenjutsu.'_

 _"I call Kenjutsu! Kenjutsu is mine!"_

 _"Wait, I wanna learn Kenjutsu!" Naruto whined. To the children, waving swords around and lacing them with chakra was the coolest thing they had ever seen._

 _"Come on, dobe! Take the Five Elements! You have the most chakra naturally, and I'm stronger physically!" Sasuke weedled._

 _"Then what do I get?" Sakura whined._

 _"Look, try this!" Naruto yelled, brandishing 'Advanced Chakra Control' and 'The Art of Healing Jutsu' at Sakura. "Your Chakra control is the best!"_

 _A pause._

 _"Oh, alright," all three of them agreed._

 _Another pause._

 _"Wait, how'd you get all of this? Isn't this restricted information?" Naruto suddenly asked._

 _"Well…" Sasuke mumbled, fidgeting._

 _"AH-HAH! I TOLD YOU SEXY JUTSU WOULD WORK ON THE HOKAGE! Ooooohhhh, I wonder what Sasuke looked like-"_

 _"SHUT UP, DOBE!" Sasuke yelled, face red. Sakura giggled. As birds fled from the noise in the clearing, Sakura eventually punched Naruto and Sasuke hard, and after that, all three of them opened their scrolls and began to read._

 _"AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" Naruto's voice rang from the docks of the Uchiha lake. Looking up from repeating a series of Kenjutsu moves, Sasuke frowned as he looked toward the lake, where Naruto was punching the water._

 _"What's up, Naruto?" Sakura asked from the other side of the lake, carefully walking on the water._

 _"I CAN'T GET THE FIRE TO TURN INTO A DRAGON! THIS JUTSU IS STUPID!"_

 _Sasuke stifled a laugh and went back to wacking the log with his sword. Twenty minutes later, after two splashes from Sakura and two more screams of frustration from Naruto, a bright plume of fire finally burst from Naruto's mouth in the form of a dragon, burning over the lake before melting into ashes._

 _"YEEESSS!" Naruto yelled, before he sat down heavily on the docks, dipping his feet into the water._

 _"Dobe, you overworked yourself," Sakura scolded, carefully treading over the water toward Naruto, who looked up and scratched his head sheepishly._

 _"Ramen?" He asked hopefully._

 _"No ramen-"_

 _"Pleaseeeee?" Naruto asked._

 _"Alright, fine."_

 _"I! WANT! LIGHTNING! NOW!" Sakura sat up abruptly in bed, staring around, before relaxing and glancing at the clock across from her bed._

 _That dobe, it's past midnight! Sakura suddenly realized. She looked out of her open window, where she spotted Naruto standing on the docks, glaring at his hands in frustration. She was just planning to get up and tell him to get some sleep when her eyelids drooped and she fell back asleep._

 _"Where's the dobe?" Sasuke exclaimed, opening Sakura's door with a loud bang and staring wildly around. "I've looked everywhere, he's not in the kitchens, or Ichiraku's, or his room!"_

 _Blinking blearily, Sakura rubbed her eyes before remembering the events of last night._

 _"He's probably out there, fainted from chakra exhaustion or something. I heard him last night, training."_

 _"Yeah… I think we gave him the hardest techniques," Sasuke muttered quietly. Sighing, he walked out of the room, Sakura following after she dressed. Sure enough, Naruto was out cold on the dock floor, but on the edges of the wood and the trees surrounding the lake, charred pieces of wood, there were several pieces of charred black wood, marked by indents shaped like lightning._

* * *

Slowly, Naruto opened his eyes. Above him was a tan sky, below him he felt soft cloth, and over him he felt a soft blanket. Turning his head to his right side gingerly, Naruto's eyes unfocused and then refocused, making out the image of a man clad in a forest green jonin suit with silver hair sprawled on a couch, sleeping soundly.

"Kaka-sensei?" He asked, his voice rasping and thick. Kakashi jerked awake, glancing around, sitting up and yawning, before turning to Naruto.

"Is Sakura and Sasuke ok?" Naruto asked, coughing in racking spasms. A glass of water was handed to him by Kakashi, and he drank eagerly.

"Sasuke's sword will need to be replaced, and Sakura will have a nasty scar on her arm, but otherwise, they're alright."

Then, Naruto, still looking at Kakashi, took his left arm from under his covers and outstretched the stump of his arm, as if prepared to take the glass of water from his right hand. Glancing over at his arm, Naruto's cerulean blue eyes stared for a split second, before the glass dropped to the floor and shattered.

"Naruto, your left arm got cut off by Zabuza-"

"Can't you heal it?" Naruto asked.

"The hand is gone."

"Can't you make a new one? Can't medical jutsu do that?" Naruto asked, a slight tinge of desperation in his voice.

"No."

"Please, please, please, they can fix this, they can fix this, right? They can fix this, they can fix-"

"They can't, Naruto."

"You're joking, right, sensei? Stop it, please! Tell me they can fix it-"

"I'm sorry, Naruto."

"B-but how w-will I be a ninja? How will I do Taijutsu? How will I do Ninjutsu? How can I be a Hokage now?" Naruto stammered. "They can fix this, right?"

"Naruto…"

Naruto stared at the stump of his left arm, eyes wide and terrified. Looking up at Kakashi, his eyes were not filled with tears, but with a defeated, dead look.

That scared Kakashi most of all.

* * *

"Are you ok, Naruto?" Sakura asked for the umpteenth time. Shrugging, Naruto yawned and stared at his left arm again, before pushing himself up with his right hand to his feet.

"Don't get up, dobe!" Sasuke warned, but Naruto ignored them as he slowly walked out of the room and toward the front door.

"What are you doing, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, staring as Naruto opened the front door and walked out of Tazuna's house. Naruto walked a good distance away, before forming the hand seals with his right hand for "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu," and placing two fingers to his lips.

Nothing happened.

Frowning, Naruto glared at his hand determinedly, before intertwining his pointer and middle finger, the middle finger curling sideways to form a cross with his pointer finger.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He whispered. After a few seconds, a single clone appeared next to him, then vanished just as quickly. Naruto tried again. And again. And again. And again. And again.

Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura walked slowly back to the house. There was something off about him, just from the outside, they could tell. It was just after noon, and as they periodically peered out of the windows to watch Naruto, they saw him slowly form more, better, clones. At dinner, when Sakura was called to dinner, Naruto smiled weakly and formed thirty shadow clones.

"Have I ever told you about how I learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu?" Naruto asked as they walked back to Tazuna's house, occasionally shifting his left stump awkwardly.

"In all honesty, I just remember you a few days after the Academy Exam showing us how. How did you pass again?"

"Hah, good question…" Naruto chuckled, shifting his left hand toward Sakura's right hand, as if to hold it, then wincing as Sakura flinched, in pity or fear he did not know. Pushing open the door, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Tazuna, Tsunami, and the little boy who was Tsunami's son sat down at the table.

"After the Genin exams, after I proved my lack of chakra control to be so abysmal that I couldn't create a clone, I was sitting alone on the swing. 'I'm so worthless… Sakura and Sasuke passed with flawless results, and I'm still in the Academy…' I remember thinking. Then, Mizuki approached me." Naruto took a deep breath and chuckled.

 _"'Do you want to pass? I have a special way for you to be able to pass if you accomplish it…'_

 _'Really? What?'_ Ha, I was so foolish… of course I accepted."

"What'd he offer you?" Kakashi asked in interest. Of course, he had heard of Mizuki's betrayal, but it had never been explained in detail.

"Well, he told me to steal the Scroll of Seals-"

"What?" Sakura exclaimed, eyes wide.

"Let him finish, Sakura," Sasuke muttered.

"He told me to steal the Scroll of Seals, and to learn one of the jutsu inside of it… choosing to ignore the fact, if I did learn one of the more dangerous jutsu inside, I could accidentally unseal the Kyuubi…"

And even gasp from Sakura, and a huff of surprise from Sasuke.

"Luckily, though, I picked the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and I practiced it for about… two hours… actually, I hadn't even learned it properly. Then, Iruka found me."

 _"'Naruto! Why are you here? Hurry up, give me the scroll, Mizuki will be here soon…'_

' _What? He told me that if I could learn a jutsu from the scroll, I could pass…'_

"When I heard him out, I ran. Then, Mizuki attacked me. Iruka… Iruka took a shuriken for me, and then he told me to run. So I did. But as I ran, I remembered Mizuki's face, there was so much brutality and savageness… So I turned back and ran toward where Iruka and Mizuki had been," Naruto continued. "I wasn't sure what I was going to do. My jutsu would kill both of them, since they both rely heavily on Taijutsu. I still ran back, though, to the sight of Mizuki about to kill Iruka. So, I attempted a final time the Shadow Clone Jutsu."

"And?" Sakura asked, eyes wide with excitement.

"It worked. I formed over one hundred clones, and I-" Naruto broke off and snickered. "I beat him up so much he wasn't even recognizable when I stopped. After that, Iruka gave me this handband. It was his own… If you take it off, you can see the scratched out "Iruka" above my name." Naruto shrugged and took a bite of rice.

"But now… I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do any Jutsu, besides for Shadow Clone Jutsu, so I guess I'm kind of useless as a Ninja now."

Silence.

Everyone stopped eating as they all realized what was wrong with Naruto's look. His headband, the one that he never took off, was gone. Stowed somewhere inside a backpack. Gone.

Naruto had given up. Naruto, Naruto, had given up. The boy who worked through the night to achieve a Jutsu, the boy who had worked the hardest and achieved the least out of all three students. He had given up.

"Naruto… it may be impossible, but…" Kakashi started, then hesitated.

"What?" Naruto asked subduedly.

"You may be able to perform a Jutsu with one hand, if your skill with Hand Seals and chakra control is good enough…"

"What?" Naruto asked, standing up from his chair and staring at Kakashi, eyes wide. "Really? You're not joking? I can?"

"If your Chakra control is good enough, maybe… but with such a huge amount of chakra, it most likely is… impossible."

"Teach me."

"Naruto, it might not work-"

"Teach me, sensei."

Silence, as everybody glanced toward Kakashi, then back toward Naruto. The boy in the orange jacket was standing up, hands braced on the table, glaring at Kakashi, who gazed back, eyes weary and cautious. Then, he spoke.

"Your training starts tomorrow."

* * *

 **Don't hate.**

 **Naruto loses an arm, deal with it. Christ.**

 **POLL CLOSED**

 **Hope you liked it! Please read and review!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Yes! I posted something _early_! **

**Anyway, hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

"You never learned to climb trees?" Kakashi exclaimed, eyes wide with rarely seen surprise.

"Of course I know how to climb trees!" Naruto retorted, sitting on the ground and looking incredulously back.

"I mean with chakra!" Kakashi frustratedly told him.

"Oh, that? I remember Sakura-chan do it, but I never bothered to try…" Naruto said after a moment's thought.

"Well, you're going to need to learn how. Actually, does Sasuke know how?" Kakashi asked again.

"Huh? No, he tried for a long time, but he couldn't do it, so he quit. Is that why he takes so much more chakra from me than Sakura?" Naruto realized. Sighing, Kakashi struggled upright on his crutches and turned toward Naruto.

"Watch closely," he warned. They were sitting in a clearing, surrounded by towering trees, and Kakashi hobbled toward the nearest tree, which stood about 100 feet tall, and began to walk onto it. Putting one foot after another and defying gravity just like his silver hair, he reached about twenty feet before stopping and jerking his head toward Tazuna's house.

"Go get Sasuke. You guys are going to learn how to learn this," he ordered. Naruto frowned, ignoring the command.

"What does this have to do with helping me do jutsu?" He asked.

"It is the first step in helping you with your Chakra control," Kakashi told him incredulously.

"Well, why does Sasuke have to do it then?" Naruto retorted.  
"He will take much less Chakra from you, if he learns better Chakra control," Kakashi responded angrily. Sighing, Naruto stood up, his empty left sleeve swaying in the wind, and hurried to the house.

* * *

 **Six Hours Later:**

"HOW DOES THIS WORK?" Naruto yelled as he crashed into the ground, landing on his back. Standing up, he glared at the tree before backing away and running toward the trunk, reaching a height of about five feet before his foot dug into the wood and he rebounded away, crashing to the ground again. "Owwww…" He complained, rubbing his hand with his right hand. Meanwhile, beside him, Sasuke slid off the tree and flipped in the air, landing on his feet, frowning in frustration before starting again. Despite herself, Sakura, perched on the highest safe branch on the highest tree, giggled.

"Oi! Sakura!" Naruto yelled after about ten more tries. Gracefully jumping off the tree and landing on her feet, Sakura inquisitorial tilted her head as Naruto approached her. "Do you have any tips? Any, at all?"

Sakura's brows creased, then she smiled.

"Well, the most important thing is to control the amount of chakra you channel toward your feet… if you channel too much, you will be pushed backward, if you channel too much, you will not be able to stick and will slide off. Concentration is the most important part, concentrate and don't let anything distract you," she told him earnestly.

"Ok, thanks, Sakura-chan!"

Walking back toward his tree, Naruto took a running start, ran up the tree, and fell back down with a loud thump on his back.

"Come on, dobe! At least I can land on my feet!" Sasuke yelled, frustrated as his concentration was broken.  
"Well, it's hard if you don't have an arm," Naruto quipped. Closing his eyes, he blocked out the apologetic sound that Sasuke made and focused only on his chakra. Concentrate, concentrate, CONCENTRATE! His hand rose to raise two fingers, and he focused on his chakra toward his feet, not too much or too little…

Opening his eyes, Naruto sprinted toward the tree and up the trunk, going five, ten fifteen feet before he stuck his kunai into the trunk and went tumbling back down, landing on his feet and stumbling backward. Looking up, Sasuke's eyes went wide as he glanced up at the tree where Naruto's kunai was stuck.

"Need help, teme?" Naruto teased.

"No."

A laugh from Sakura, which was quickly stifled as Sasuke glared at her. Meanwhile, Kakashi, who had so far been reading, blood trickling out of his nose, his Icha Icha Paradise novel, snapped the book shut and looked up at the sky, which was just starting to darken. The sun, an orb of scarlet fire and molten gold, was just starting to draw it's curtains of fluffy clouds around it as it sank into sleep, the clouds tinted shades of gold, scarlet, and orange, the sky a canvas of colors splattered across of it, black at the corners, purple, salmon pink, scarlet, bright orange, and gold surrounding the sun's glory.

"It's time to go to dinner, kids," Kakashi informed them, standing up stiffly on his crutches and slowly making his way back to the cabin. Naruto and Sasuke, still glaring at each other, raced to the cabin, each gulping down copious amounts of food at dinner before throwing it up.

"They do that sometimes," Sakura whispered to Kakashi, who felt the corner of his mouth twitch in amusement as Naruto and Sasuke both stood up and asked for more, glaring daggers at each other as they did so.

"I mean, get all competitive and stuff. It gets annoying after a while…"

"Now, kids, it's no use eating this much food if you just throw it up again," Kakashi finally cut in as they asked for their fifth helping. No use, they were too busy staring each other down.

"STOP IT, YOU IDIOTS!" Sakura screamed, smashing them both on their heads. Rubbing the lump that protruded from their skulls, Naruto and Sasuke both sulkily went to bed after dinner.

* * *

 **The Next Morning:**

"Naruto?" Sakura, panicking, asked, bursting into Kakashi's room before shutting the door and peering into the kitchen. "Kakashi-sensei, where is he?"

"Hmm… I would check the trees?" Kakashi asked, poking his head out of the door and shrugging before disappearing back into his room.

Sakura ran out of the door and toward the spot where they had trained, looking around wildly before, suddenly, a kunai embedded itself at her feet. Closely following behind, Kakashi and Sasuke both stopped short and looked up.

"I did it!" Naruto yelled from the top of the tallest tree, where he was standing proudly, one hand placed on his hip. "I'm the king if the worldddd!"

"You, you-" Sasuke stammered. Suddenly, Naruto swayed backward, then fell off the branch.

"Naruto-" Sakura screamed, but Naruto merely hung there, smirking at them all triumphantly.

"Fooled you!" Naruto yelled. Then, as he hung upside down, his feet slowly left the branch, and-

"Naruto, you idiot!"

"Oh no-"

Naruto was falling down, his chakra finally leaving him, before-

Sasuke was grasping his heel, eyes alight with triumph as he found himself standing on the branch upside down.

"Come on, guys… let's go back," Kakashi finally told them. As they descended the tree, Naruto swayed and collapsed once he reached to the ground, covered in dirt and bruises. "You need to rest."

As Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stumbled into the house, Inari stopped and stared at Naruto's bruised, battered body before dropping the plate he was holding.

"You guys are all idiots!" Inari yelled. The three students stopped and stared at him, astonished. "There's no point of you guys trying so hard! No matter what, you're always going to lose to Gato! You guys should stop being heroes and just go away from him, or you're gonna suffer!"

"What's so bad about heroes?" Naruto asked, confused. Inari's ordinary brown eyes began to glimmer with tears.

"Heroes don't exist!"

"What do you mean, brat? The Hokage's are heroes! Our sensei's and parents are heroes!" Naruto replied, eyes wide with anger.

"No, heroes don't exist. You guys are wasting your time, run from Gato, you're definitely going to be killed!" Inari retorted.

"Listen to me, kid," Naruto snarled, yanking up Inari by his collar. "You don't know anything about heroes, or suffering! You are just a brat who doesn't understand anything!" Throwing Inari down roughly, he turned away from him and stalked away. "Oh, and, good job for crying, brat."

They heard him stalk upstairs and slam the door shut, closely followed by Sasuke and Sakura.

"Don't blame Naruto," Kakashi finally told Inari. He only sniffed, ignoring Kakashi's words. "Naruto grew up without a mother or father, without any care but from Sasuke and Sakura, hated by everyone around him. But… I have never seen him cry after that one time at five years old, not for these reasons. Not a single tear, despite all the suffering he had to go through." Without waiting for a reply, he also walked up the stairs, closing his bedroom door quietly behind him.

* * *

 **The Next Day:**

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, I need to talk to you." Kakashi gravely announced after they ate breakfast. Kakashi motioned for them to sit down. Looking around gravely, he closed his eyes and sighed heavily.

"I think we may be in danger…" Kakashi finally told them.

"Huh? Why?" Naruto asked stupidly.

"We killed Zabuza. He was part of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen-"

"So? Doesn't that mean we're safe?" Naruto interrupted. Sakura's eyes were wide, and fear suddenly danced inside the emerald green orbs.

"He was part of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen… that means…"

"Some of them might want to avenge the death of their pal, Naruto…" Kakashi finished. Naruto's face paled, and Sasuke let out a small intake of breath. "Do you guys want to stop the mission-"

"No! Who will protect Tazuna? He needs to build the bridge, or else the village Hidden in the Waves will never be safe!" Naruto suddenly burst out.

"Naruto, you can't even use Jutsu!" Sakura protested.

"I can use God of Elements!"

"You know as well as I do that it's not enough, Naru-" Sakura started.

"NO! No, no, no, no, no! We're protecting Tazuna!" Naruto protested loudly.

"I agree," Sasuke cut in. Everybody glanced at him in amazement, then the three students turned back toward Kakashi.

"I think you guys are right. We are protecting Tazuna. Naruto, you're staying here today, Sasuke, Sakura, we're guarding Tazuna as he builds."

"What? Why?" Naruto protested.

"You're still dangerously low on chakra, Naruto. Stay." Kakashi ordered.

"Fine."

It was noon when they came.

This mist…

"Sasuke, Sakura, get around Tazuna! They're here!"

Sasuke and Sakura immediately surrounded Tazuna, fear flitting across Sakura's face, determination across Sasuke's as he drew his kunai.

"No wonder you killed Zabuza so easily," a grating, shark-like voice sneered. From the mist stepped a man, distinctly fish-like, with tiny eyes and six green stripes across his cheeks, red-orange hair reaching to his back and pinned up elegantly. A loose, black outfit was mostly covered by a white cloak, with bandages wrapped around his neck. In his hands, he held what looked like a rod of bandages attached to a yellow handle. Fuguki Suikazan.

"Yes… it's a pity we'll have to kill them… for they are such wonderful fighters…" Another feline voice mused. A thin, dark-skinned man with waist-length dark green hair and dark, full lips stepped out next, two bangs falling to his cheeks stepped out next. Outfitted in a brown vest that reached his knees and light brown pants, he bore two swords, double-edged and slim, that had a bladed prong pointing upward near the top and the bottom of the swords, pointing opposite ways. Raiga Kurosuki.

"Kiba…" Sasuke breathed, eyes wide as he stared at the pair of swords.

"Raiga Kurosuki and Fuguki Suikazan… are you the only ones who came to avenge Zabuza Momochi? Or are there more, hidden in the mist?" Kakashi smoothly asked, his heart pounding with fear as he glanced at Sasuke and Sakura.

"Just us, Kakashi Hatake of the Hidden Leaf." Fuguki sneered. Suddenly, Raiga was in front of Sasuke, who twisted away and deflected one of the blades with his kunai. However, the other sword sliced down and cut the kunai in half, and both swords were slicing toward Sasuke.

"Cero!" Sakura screamed. The sword crashed into the chakra shield around Sasuke, who jumped away and imbued his own sword with blue lightning, as Kiba lit up with yellow light. In Sakura's hands, instead of whips, two distinctive blades formed, which had a foot-long handle and a two-foot-long blade, which was double-edged and slender, curved like a katana.

"I'll take the brats," Raiga whispered to Fuguki, who didn't respond, his eyes locked on Kakashi, who had drawn a kunai.

"We didn't come here as much as to avenge Zabuza but to see who was powerful enough to defeat him. This will be amusing, I'm sure…" Ragai continued, smiling, cat-like, at Sasuke and Sakura.

"It won't be amusing when you're laying dead," Sasuke spat.

"Make sure you can back up those words…"

* * *

 **At Tazuna's House:**

A scream made Naruto sit up from his bed of grass outside, glancing around warily. That came from Tazuna's house! Leaping up, Naruto sprinted toward the source of the scream. As he shoved aside the tree branches, he saw six or seven ninjas restraining Inari and Tsunami.

"Inari, run, run, run!" Tsunami screamed. "Take me, but leave him!" She begged the ninja, who laughed.

"No! Don't take mom, I'll kill you, I'LL KILL YOU!" Inari yelled, struggling valiantly. The ninja snickered and grabbed Inari's arms and legs, glancing toward the person who seemed to be their leader for directions.

"We don't need two captives… kill this one," the leader grunted. As a sword was raised, Tsunami's hysterical sobs and Inari's shouts of anger the only sounds, six kunai cleanly pierced the ninja's neck, one flying slightly right of the target. The remaining ninja whirled around and released a barrage of shuriken, which Naruto blocked with the kunai in his right hand before he threw the kunai, which exploded when it passed the last attacker.

"Thank you," Inari hesitantly told Naruto, who grinned back. "I-"

"I don't have time for anything right now, I need to get to Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke and Sakura. They're here."

* * *

"Raiso: Akuma Kaminari Mirā!" **(Lightning Banquet: Demonic Lightning Mirrors)** As Sasuke and Sakura glanced around, golden walls of lightning rose and surrounded them, occasionally letting a spark of lightning but otherwise doing nothing.

"We've got to get out," Sasuke cursed before he threw a kunai at the nearest mirror. Instead of shattering the mirror, it reflected and then slammed into the opposite wall, melting away from the heat dissolving into nothing.

"Raisō: Ikazuchi no Utage!" **(Lightning Burial: Banquet of Lightning)** Came Ragai's voice from above. Twin bolts of lightning zigzagged down toward them. Sakura's hands had only lifted up, not meeting, before the lightning crashed down and struck its prey. Sakura's Cero barely protected her and Sasuke was defenseless against the lightning, his screams ringing out, again and again, electrocuted by the lightning.

"You guys are weaker than I thought…" Ragai sneered from above them as Sasuke writhed on the ground, hit again and again by the lightning deflected by the mirrors. As quickly as it appeared, it vanished, and Sasuke slowly pushed himself up, trembling, before his shuriken were flying upwards. Ragai laughed like a maniac and batted them away before an explosion ensued and the laughter stopped. Suddenly, Sasuke ducked outside of the mirrors from a rip, the blade in his hand lit up with lightning.

"You're lightning style, too… what a sad weakness for my legendary lightning mirrors… ah, well. You die. Now." As he stated these words, Ragai was next to Sasuke, his blades flying toward Sasuke's side, piercing and cutting him straight in half.

However, instead of blood, there was smoke, before Sasuke's body vanished into nothingness.

"Huh?" Ragai exclaimed, whirling around and then staring at the sky. With a blast of lightning from above, the lightning mirrors shattered, revealing Sasuke and Sakura staring up at the sky in thankful appreciation at the winged Naruto that dove down and landed beside them.

"I can't do jutsu, so I'm useless," Naruto whispered. "My chakra is already low from yesterday, so I can't hold this for long. I'll distract him, you guys have to kill him. My blows aren't strong, there's not enough chakra for me to do much of anything right now. Even if I had chakra…" he trailed off sadly. "Never mind."

Flying into the air, Naruto held his palms to the ground as a ball of fire struck the ground, Ragai jumping away and meeting the chakra blade of Sakura and ducking just as Sasuke's barrage of shuriken sailed past where his chest had been. Sakura connected her two blades and swung it like a staff, a bladed, deadly staff, toward the crouching Ragai, who jumped away only to get hit by a blast of wind from the flying Naruto.

"Damn brats!" He hissed. His swords lit up with lightning, and as he sliced toward Sasuke and Sakura, who were approaching, a wave of lightning surged toward them, which they both ducked. As they evaded wave after wave of lightning, they didn't see him weave hand signs with his left hand.

"Raiton: Gian!" **(Lightning Style: False Darkness)** Two bolts of lightning sailed toward Sasuke and Sakura, who both ducked, only to get hit by another wave of lightning. As Naruto screamed in horror, Sasuke and Sakura both seized up and opened their mouths, as if screaming silently, then collapsed to the ground. After a few seconds, Sakura pushed herself up weakly, then stood up. Sasuke stayed still.

"YOU BASTARD!" Naruto screamed, a burst of water shooting out and striking the spot a few feet away from Ragai, who had jumped away and laughed darkly.  
"One down, two to go," he sneered. His comment was cut off as Naruto flew upward on his wings and threw down a string of seals, which exploded as they neared the green-haired man and then summoned twenty clones, which aided Sakura as she disassembled her blades and began to slice at Ragai. They danced a battle of chakra and lightning, fire and lightning and water and wind and earth exploding and destroying. Suddenly, Ragai formed a few hand seals before lightning exploded out of his hands into his swords and then exploded out in twin rays of deadly gold, both of them forming the shape of a small dragon, which rushed at Sakura. Naruto flicked his finger, and one of the dragons slammed into a wall of earth, the other into a wall of water.

"Get away, Sakura!" Naruto screamed as the dragon in the water began to evaporate and the lightning began to dissolve. At that moment, Ragai snapped his fingers, and the water and lightning exploded as Sakura leapt back away from the blast. Six smoke bombs were tossed to the ground by Naruto, who dove in and discreetly dropped two paper bombs, and as Ragai dove into the smoke for cover as Naruto began to launch blasts of fire at him, the bombs exploded and they heard Ragai swear before lightning arched out the smoke and struck at Naruto, who dove to avoid it. Instead of continuing on its path, the lightning pursued him, and as he ducked and dove and flew in circles, he grew further and further away from Sakura until-

A scream.

A laugh.

Sizzling, crackling, burning lightning.

Then the smoke cleared, revealing Sakura's body crumpled on the ground of the bridge, her hair burned by lightning before Ragai formed a few hand signs and then thrust her into a mirror of lightning and gold.

* * *

"Zabuza was much weaker than me, Kakashi Hatake. How much trouble did you have with him?" Fuguki sneered. The Samehada twitched and snarled at Kakashi, who stared back boldly, his Sharingan revealed as the air around him filled with mist. "I don't think I'll have to use Jutsu, though. Just like Zabuza, I was a master at Silent Killing."

Nothing could be seen around Kakashi as he glanced around repeatedly, searching for a sign of Fuguki as he disappeared into the mist. Damn it, I let him completely blind me with the mist…

"Silent Killing means you cannot hear or even see me as I prey upon you…" Fuguki sneered. Suddenly, Kakashi felt teeth clamp around his ankle before his chakra was quickly drained by the Samehada, which twitched in happiness as it tasted Kakashi's chakra. Wrenching his foot away from the jaws of the beast, Kakashi whipped around and deflected the blade before Fuguki laughed darkly and disappeared again, leaving Kakashi blind to his attacks. Slowly, as Samehada latched onto him in the least expected places at the least expected times, Kakashi's chakra was slowly drained as the silent attacks continued. Bending down and withdrawing a scroll from his pocket, Kakashi bit his thumb and watched as blood pooled out.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" He whispered. Eight dogs appeared, all dressed up in blue uniforms, who surveyed Kakashi before the leader spoke.

"What's up, Kakashi?" Pakkun asked.

"Hide yourselves for now. Wait," Kakashi whispered back. As he felt Samehada latch onto his left wrist, Kakashi lunged forward and managed to get ahold of Fuguki's clothing, but Fuguki vanished before he could take a scrap. The attacks came faster, and Kakashi felt faint as he squinted around for the next attack, before Samehada latched onto his thigh and began to rip at flesh and bone. Biting back his cry of pain, Kakashi lunged at the user of Samehada and ripped off a scrap of cloth before wrenching his foot away and throwing the cloth into the air.

"Now!"

A faint rumbling underground was all that could be heard as his ninken surged toward their target, Fuguki, hidden in the mist by sound and sight but not by smell. A filthy curse erupted from Fuguki's mouth as his arms, then legs, then body was seized by the dogs, until his head was enclosed in the largest mouth and he was trapped, blood pooling from bite wounds and eyes bright with hatred. The Lighting Cutter lit up in Kakashi's hand as he ran toward the trapped Fuguki, and then he heard a scream from where Sasuke and Sakura were battling, a girl's scream, and then his hand plunged into the soft chest of-

"Sakura!" Naruto screamed, as he flew into view and then saw Kakashi and Fuguki. Blood was sprayed across Kakashi's face as he beheld the mirror of Lightning beside him, then Sakura's body pierced by his Chidori. Slowly, he withdrew his hand. It didn't hit the heart. I think… "Sakura!" Naruto screamed again, his voice filled with anguish and rage. "You-you bastard!" He screamed at Ragai, who smiled and laughed maniacally.

"Come and kill me, then," he sneered. Kakashi slowly yanked his hand out of Sakura's chest and then swung his gaze toward Fuguki, one hundred feet away, sprayed with his student's blood. As Kakashi sprinted toward Fuguki, rage and sadness and guilt in his heart, Naruto dropped to the ground and hugged Sakura's body, withdrawing a seal from his bag and slapping it on. Heal was written on top of it, made to heal all wounds on a person's body, but…

Only if they were alive.

Naruto sobbed as the seal did nothing but lay on Sakura's body, before he looked up and saw Ragai laughing, laughing, laughing at Sakura's death. Rage. Rage. Rage was the only thing he felt as he watched the despicable man laugh, laugh, laugh.

He opened his eyes and his tears melted away as he crouched on the ground, like a four-legged beast, fingernails turning into claws, pupils red slits, red chakra surrounding him and forming a tail of sinister chakra.

"I'm going to kill you…" He growled. Instead of the boyish, high tone of Naruto Uzumaki, Ragai heard a fox's growl and a fox's wrath.

And then, The Kyuubi Container howled his wrath, his sorrow, his anguish at the sky and leapt, claws outstretched, at his prey.

* * *

 **Lightning Banquet: Demonic Lightning Mirrors-Forms walls of mirrors that reflect attacks, especially if they are lightning or metal.**

 **Lightning Burial: Banquet of Lightning-Creates several bolts of lightning that cut through the air until they hit the enemy.**

 **Lightning Style: False Darkness-Creates a spear of lightning that pierces and electrocutes the target.**

* * *

 **Cliffhanger! Kind of...**

 **The poll is CLOSED! But of course, I'm not telling you the results.**

 **Hope you enjoyed! Please Read and Review!**


	6. Chapter 5

**I'm really sorry I didn't post last week, I had three projects due Monday and I _totally didn't_ procrastinate. I hope this makes up for it!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Sorry.**

* * *

The Kyuubi was running on all fours toward Ragai, who jumped away just in time to avoid the whip of his blood red tail and clawed fist, and as Ragai stared at Naruto, he growled and grew a second tail. Suddenly, as Ragai realized with a jolt of horror and fascination, he realized that Naruto had grown a left hand of pure chakra. Then, he ran toward Ragai at a speed too fast for the eye to see, his fist crashing into Ragai's cheek and sending him flying back sixty feet. Crashing into the ground, Ragai lay there for an instant before he slowly crawled up just in time to avoid a clawing strike from the Kyuubi, who howled before leaping at him once more. Two blasts of lightning erupted from Ragai, which hit Naruto with a huge crackle. For a second, he lay still on the ground, then, with a shake of the head, Naruto shook off the blast, got up slowly and growled at Ragai again, who experienced, for one of the only times in his life, fear. Chakra spiked in Naruto's system as a third tail grew out, and the Naruto, his eyes blood red and his claws growing longer, crouched and leapt at Ragai with a yowl that sent shivers down even Kakashi's spine. The edge of Naruto's claw barely grazed Ragai's cheek as Ragai ducked the blow, causing a tiny trail of blood to trail down and drip onto the floor. Suddenly, Ragai jumped back and weaved three hand signs, before blue lightning floated streamed out of his hands and into the swords, which were spinning beside him, before it streamed out of the swords in one large bolt that zig-zagged toward Naruto, who batted it away with one of his tails. Ragai cursed and increased the strength of the lightning but when it hit Naruto, he merely flicked a tail in annoyance and continued to watch Ragai with dark, amused eyes. As Ragai collected all the lightning he had created toward him, creating a circle of lightning around him, his hands began to fly in signs.

"Raisō: Ikazuchi no Utage!" As lightning flew out of the swords, Naruto was engulfed in crackling, burning electricity. A victorious smirk crossed Ragai's face, before the lightning and smoke was thrust aside by red chakra. From the ashes emerged Naruto, who was barely harmed but for a few blackened pieces of chakra. Ragai's face darkened with anger, but just as he drew his swords, Naruto's eyes widened with feral anger and he _moved_.

Suddenly, Naruto was next to him, and Ragai screamed for the first time in his life.

Then, Naruto's claws made contact with flesh, creating a sickening sound of ripping and screams. Naruto stood over Ragai's body, his claws ripping over, over, over again, again, again, until Ragai's voice was so hoarse he could not scream, until blood splattered the bridge and flew through the sky like a rain of irony scarlet.

"Naruto," A weak voice whispered from ten feet away. Sakura's voice was soaked with pain and fear, but as Naruto's red eyes darted toward the source of the sound, there was no recognition, no pain, no mercy in his eyes. "Naruto…"

Hidden as Sakura's scent was by the blood and the burnt scent floating in the air, the Kyuubi would have to take time to find her. Oh, but find her he would.

* * *

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Fuguki screamed, hefting the Samehada and glowering at him. "You're the first person in the world to have survived my Silent Killing, Kakashi, and I'll have to kill you for that."

Kakashi chuckled quietly to himself as he dispelled the Summoning Jutsu, Pakkun and his other Ninken disappeared.

" _Uncontrollable anger is something that will ruin your mission, Obito," Rin scolded._

 _No, don't think, don't feel emotion. Kill. Complete the mission. Then, mourn._

At that thought, the Chidori faded from his hand, and although Kakashi momentarily had to blink back tears, it was with a steely, calm gaze that he gazed back at the furious Swordsman.

"Oh, not even sad by that bitch's death, huh? Just another whore for you to stab and kill, huh, Friend Killer Kakashi?" Fuguki sneered.

 _No anger. No emotion._

"I knew it… just like that Rin girl, you killed her the same way. Did you get to either of them, though? How disappointed you must be…"

 _Do not show emotion in a mission. Do. Not. Show. Emotion._

"I heard her captor managed to get down there before you and the Uchiha kid came along, though. I happened to know him personally, he was that type of pers-"

"Say one more word. _One more word_ , and I will end you!" Kakashi screamed. That one bit of anger would be all he would show, all he would show-

"Well, Friend Killer Kakashi, FIGHT ME!" Eyes still alight with maniacal rage, Fuguki rushed at Kakashi, sword outstretch, Samehada eager to devour Kakashi's chakra, but Kakashi's fist flashed out and struck Fuguki's jaw, causing him to fly backwards ten feet. While Fuguki's rage had overtaken him, Kakashi's rage had empowered him. Growling in an almost feral way, Fuguki ran and attempted to strike again, this time Kakashi kicked him away.

"Pathetic," Kakashi sneered, cold rage still sweeping through him, his previously aching body now oblivious to that pain, any pain, because of his adrenaline and anger. Fuguki growled, and struck again, this time Kakashi ducked underneath the clumsily swung sword blade and struck it out of Fuguki's hands, causing it to fly ten feet back.

"You bastard," Fuguki growled, then struck at him with his fists. Again and again and again, Kakashi struck Fuguki as he attempted to attack the silver-haired warrior, until bruises dotted Fuguki's body and Kakashi's rage began to dissipate. Suddenly, in a single, smooth movement, Kakashi's hand, grasping a ice cold kunai, touched the point of the blade to Fuguki's neck. He barely had time to scream before the metal bit in and slit his throat, digging in deeper and deeper as red blood gurgled out.

Slowly, Fuguki of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen collapsed to the ground, drowning in his own blood, his vision blurring and slowly overcome with blackness as he struggled to keep his lids open.

The last thing he saw was Kakashi Hatake the Copy Ninja's red and black eyes, his whole body splattered with blood and his silver hair weighed down from dried red, tears leaking from his single black eye trickling down his face and dripping onto his right hand, which was stained with his student's blood.

And, as his consciousness faded from him, Fuguki thought that maybe, just _maybe_ , there was a bit of remorse that welled up as Kakashi Hatake dropped to his knees and screamed with grief.

Then, all sounds were drowned out as the Kyuubi let out a horrifying yowl and a fourth tail began to form.

 _Fool, fool,_ Kakashi scolded himself, as the Kyuubi began to take further control of Naruto, who was straining to keep the chakra from taking over his body out the outside and straining to wrest control of his own body from the Kyuubi on the inside. Blood began to bubble from Naruto's lips as his eyes widened with pain and horror as Kakashi began to sprint toward him, tears still in his eyes.

"Scroll… red…" Naruto whispered, his lips the only thing he could barely control. "Kaka… sensei… scroll… red…"

 _What does he mean?_ Kakashi wondered, watching in horror as the dark red chakra began to devour Naruto, engulf him in it's evil aura.

"Get… scroll… red… before… too… late…" Naruto whispered, before a growl from the Kyuubi broke through his words. Fleetingly, his hand twitched toward his belt, and Kakashi suddenly saw the large blood red scroll on his belt.

 _Is that a seal to stop the Kyuubi?_

Kakashi sprinted toward Naruto, his Sharingan permitting him to dodge the first two blasts of red chakra shot toward him, but the third struck him in the chest and caused him to fly backward, blood trickling slowly out of the corner of his mouth. Again, Kakashi tried, but Naruto struck him again, not even moving as his tail whipped around and struck him backward.

 _Never. I'm never using the Chidori again. Never. I swear, I swear-_

But as Naruto, now taken over by the Kyuubi, began to sniff the air and paw at the debris coating the bridge, Kakashi realized that he was looking for _Sakura_.

 _I'm never using it, never, not against my own student again-but this isn't Naruto, it's the Kyuubi… but it's his body…_

"Please… Kakashi… do… something…" The words were barely audible, but Naruto whispered them as his body began to claw at the ground, still searching for Sakura's pink hair.

 _No…_

 _Please, no…_

 _I won't do this, I won't do this…_

The Kyuubi uncovered a strand of pink hair, then pawed away the wood covering Sakura's limp body.

 _Forgive me, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke…_

As Kakashi's Sharingan also began to leak tears, causing rivets of saltwater to stream down his face, Kakashi's hand lit up with lightning as he ran toward Naruto, who was raising his claws, ready to strike at Sakura.

"Thank… you…"

Then, the Kyuubi too busy preying on Sakura to notice Friend Killer Kakashi running toward him, Kakashi's hand, coated in lightning and holding a kunai, plunged into Naruto's shoulder. One hand plunged downwards blindly, Kakashi sought out the largest scroll on Naruto's belt and opened it, slapping it face down onto Naruto's back. With a howl of rage and pain from the Kyuubi, the red chakra coat streamed away as the seal brought Naruto, _Naruto_ Naruto, back.

Then, Kakashi and Naruto both collapsed to the ground beside Sakura's limp body. Sasuke's lay not more than ten feet away, and as he weakly attempted to drag himself toward Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura, his arms gave out on the other side of Sakura. One black and red, one blue, one green, one ebony, side by side.

* * *

 **About an Hour Later:**

"Have the killers of Master Zabuza already been avenged?" A beautiful boy, face covered by a white mask swirled with red, right hand clutching four senbon, wearing green robes and a black tunic, stared down at the heart-rendering sight of the sensei and students. "Are they still alive?"

Bending down, he pressed a cold finger to each one of their necks, and then raised his senbon, aiming for their necks.

"Don't touch her… don't touch Sakura… don't you dare touch… Sakura… Sasuke… Kaka-sensei… don't touch…" Naruto's voice hoarsely whispered.

"Why shouldn't I? You guys killed my precious person, so I should kill your precious person…" Haku mused, his hand in the air.

"But he was trying…" Naruto coughed, causing flecks of blood to fly through the air. "He was trying… to kill… us… he attacked us first…" A shaking hand was pressed to the ground as he slowly raised himself up with his right hand, his shoulder wound still bleeding heavily.

"But you killed him. I have to take revenge."

"Never," Naruto groaned, standing up on shaking feet. Smiling sadly, Haku's senbon flew through the air, one heading toward Kakashi's, Sasuke's, Sakura's, and Naruto's neck.

But instead of hitting their neck veins and injecting deadly poison into the pink-haired, raven-haired, and silver-haired sensei and students, they hit, with four dreadful thuds of senbon into flesh, Naruto's body, as he jumped across the path of the senbon, landing with a thud on the ground. Haku's eyes widened as the boy slowly crawled upwards, glaring at him through sapphire blue eyes, his headband coming loose and falling to the floor.

 _He should be immobilized by the poison…_ Haku pondered. _But, after all, he is the Kyuubi container…_

 _Please… just a little more… please, Kyuubi, just help me a little more… heal…_ Naruto begged. When nothing happened, Naruto's body began to numb and he felt his limbs began to shake with convulsions. _If I die, you're going to be trapped in my body._ The Kyuubi did nothing, but Naruto thought he heard a dark laugh emanate within him. _Kyuubi, I'll trade anything, just help me protect them!_

 _ **Anything, you say?**_

Naruto shuddered as the dark, growling, evil voice filled his mind.

 _Anything, as long as it doesn't harm Konoha, or my friends…_

 _ **Ah…**_

The Kyuubi's dark voice chuckled as he pondered.

 _ **Ah, then… I have decided.**_

Swirling whorls of orange energy began to surround Naruto as Kyuubi chakra swept through Naruto's bloodstream, melting away the poison, healing the Chidori wound as the orange chakra replenished his chakra, even washed away the dried blood caking his clothes.

"Don't hurt them," Naruto growled, yanking out the senbon and glaring at Haku threateningly. "Don't hurt my _precious people_!"

"Oh? And you can stop me?" Haku asked, tilting his head.

"Try me," Naruto growled, his single hand touching two fingers to his lips as he glared at Haku.

"Yōso no Kami: Hajimari" **(God of the Elements: The Beginning!)** Then, as Haku smiled coldly, Naruto realized that The Beginning wouldn't be enough. Raising his hand as the chakra wings formed, Naruto held to fingers to his lips and screwed his eyes shut in concentration. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, and chakra began to swirl around and around him, almost as if the Kyuubi had overtaken his conscious once again, but instead with chakra of the elements. As chakra enveloped him and formed a tail, and Naruto smiled at Haku's astonished face as the chakra took the form of a fox, wings still present on his back.

"Ah, you may try that, boy," Haku finally whispered. "But you will not defeat me." He formed a few hand signs with one hand, the other placing the mask back onto his face.

 _One handed signs… he must be skilled…_ Naruto realized.

"Makyō Hyōshō!" **(Secret Jutsu: Crystal Ice Mirrors!)** Slowly, barriers of beautiful mirrors formed around Naruto, who whirled around, staring up at the mirrors. In a split-second, the chakra on Naruto's fist whirled into fire, but as he punched the mirror with all his strength, there was only a slight sizzle as his fire melted away. Suddenly, as Naruto looked around in panic, an image of Haku appeared on each face, each a carbon copy of the other, all raising two hands filled with senbon.

"I'm sorry I'll have to kill you, but I must avenge Master Zabuza…" The Haku's said in unison. About two hundred needles, created entirely out of ice, flew out of the mirrors toward Naruto. Smiling dryly, Naruto threw out his right hand, his left stump stretching outwards pathetically, and an explosion of fire surrounded him. While about 150 needles melted, fifty made it through, about twenty cutting through the chakra cloak, and struck Naruto with a sickening, audible _thunk_. Naruto bit back a scream as he waved away the flames and glared up at one of the Haku's, who stared blithely back at Naruto.

 _If only I could use Jutsu…_

 _ **I could help you with that, Naruto-kun…**_ The Kyuubi sneered inside his head, but Naruto shoved away the thought and knit his brows in concentration. Needles of hard stone struck the mirrors, most digging in and staying there, other's clinking off. Before Naruto could finish his plan, though, more needles were flying at him, which were barely blocked by a wall of earth. Sprinting toward a deeply embedded nail, Naruto gathered a huge amount of chakra around his fist, and a flash of bright blue flame flashed before the entire mirror barrier shattered. Then, as a last burst of needles erupted from the mirrors as they collapsed, a scream erupted from Naruto as about fifty needles buried themselves in his back, blood spurting out in tiny red droplets as Naruto fell to his knees, face contorted grotesquely in pain. From the corner of his blackening vision, Naruto saw Haku's hands raising, holding three poisoned senbon, aiming for Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura. Pushing himself up on his only arm, Naruto launched himself in the path of the needles as Haku threw them, knowing his elements would be useless. Slowly, limbs twitching, Naruto sank to the ground and glared in absolute hate as Haku approached him, then nudged him with his foot. Naruto's body remained inevitably, unavoidably, paralyzed.

"I'm sorry, but it looks like this is the end," Haku remarked, tilting his head as he crouched down.

Then, with a surge of energy, Naruto launched upward and his fist, sparking with blue-white lightning, crashed into Haku's jaw. Quickly, as Haku flew backward with the force of the punch, Naruto sent a blast of fire at his flying form, which hit and exploded with a huge _bang_. As the smoke cleared, Haku flipped out of it and landed on the floor of the bridge five feet away, coughing dryly and heavily burned, yet still tilting his head as Naruto pushed himself up.

"Don't touch them!" Naruto screamed. "Why do you care so much about Zabuza? He was a murderer, a demon!"

"When I was a kid, I was hunted for my Kekkei Genkai. Everyone kept away from me, as if I would kill them at any moment. Finally, they acted. In the dead of night, they killed my mother. I ran. I ran away, and when I was curled up in the snow and freezing to death, Zabuza found me. He saw me not as an enemy, but something that could help him. I was happy to be his tool, his puppet, and now I must avenge him!" Haku growled. Staring down at the limp bodies of Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura, Naruto felt tears begin to collect in his eyes as he thought of what Haku valued, of what Haku had lost, of what Haku didn't have.

"I have the Kyuubi sealed in me," Naruto started.

"So?" Haku asked, tilting his masked face sideways.

"My entire village hated me. I had to loving mother to care for me. I was alone, alone, alone, and everyone treated me like a _demon_ , because that's what they thought I was. Then, one night, I met two people. Sakura and Sasuke. And they were both alone, just like I was, and we met and became the best of friends, almost siblings. Do you see? We felt _love_ for each other, more than 'something that could help each other…' We valued each other. We _love_ each other. Why? Why take that away? Zabuza _used_ you. He never valued you as a person, he _used_ you," Naruto screamed.

Silence.

"Do you really want to kill me for protecting my friends?" Naruto sobbed, wiping his eyes with his right arm. "Look! Look at what he did to me! My left arm, gone, my ninja career, gone, and now, my comrades are most likely _dead_! He never valued you, Haku! You know that!"

Silence.

"A tool, a tool! That's so wrong, so wrong!"

"Your words… they cut deeper than a knife…" Haku whispered. "When Zabuza died, I felt so much emptiness… no emotion, just like he taught me, just emptiness… but now, curse him, I feel the same I felt all those years ago alone in the snow… and something else… I feel content that this is where it ends…" His hand reached up and took off the white mask, revealing a beautiful face, almost like a girl's. "Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll go to the place where my mother went… or perhaps, I'll go to where Zabuza went."

"What's wrong, Zabuza's tool?" A sneering, high-pitched, foolish voice sounded from the edge of the bridge.

"Gato," Haku whispered. A short, stout man in sunglasses holding a gold cane smiled cruelly up at the two boys.

"I would have thought that the death of your _precious Zabuza_ would have caused you to want to assassinate these kids, but I guess I was wrong," Gato sneered. "You can kill the kids now, and perhaps I won't punish you for saying that."

"Naruto?" Haku asked, his tone slightly beseeching. "Can I have a kunai?"

"Sure," Naruto whispered, tossing Haku two kunai, which he grabbed in each hand.

"So eager to join Zabuza?" Gato sneered.

"Oh, no, we won't join Zabuza," Haku whispered. "You will."

As Naruto watched in horror, Haku began to run toward Gato, a kunai in each hand, who backed away. Villagers began to run forward to defend him, but Haku tore through them all, a beautiful whirlwind of death. However, by the time he reached Gato, his back was covered in stab wounds and speared through with a hoe, swords, and even a scythe. Eyes alight with cruel amusement, Haku looked back at Naruto, kneeling down next to his fallen precious people, and smiled.

"Naruto?" He called. Naruto gazed back, his eyes filled with tears.

"Naruto…" Haku whispered, knowing somehow that Naruto could hear him. "Thank you."

Then, dropping his kunai, Haku sprinted toward Gato and then, dragging Gato along with him, jumped off the half finished bridge into the water deep below. As the two bodies hit the water seventy feet below, droplets of water flew up, the sun shining through it, making it look like diamonds.

Naruto saw one of them, the largest one, and then launched into the air with his wings. Diving downward in his chakra wings, Naruto swooped down and cupped his hands, causing a penny-sized droplet of water to land in his hands. As he touched back gently onto the bridge tears trickling down his face, tiny white feathers of snow began to fall, covering the bridge in a white blanket of cold.

A tear of saltwater fell onto the droplet in Naruto's trembling hands, which froze and hardened into a snowflake of eternal, beautiful, iridescent ice.

* * *

 **Ooh, touchy touchy feeley feeley. Lol.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

 **Please Read and Review!**


	7. Chapter 6

**I'm sorry it's late! I'm now banned from writing, so posting may be kinda sporadic. Sorry!**

 **Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto. geez.**

* * *

Groaning, Naruto turned over and then shot up suddenly, sitting straight up in bed, then glancing down at his tightly clenched right fist, in which Haku's snowflake sat. Slowly, hesitantly, Naruto opened his fist to and stared down at the icy cold, forever frozen snowflake sitting in his shaking hand, glittering brightly and twinkling in the sun.

"Haku was a good kid," Kakashi whispered.

"How…?" Naruto asked, looking toward Kakashi with an expression on his face almost of betrayal. "Did you hear… all of that?"

"What?" Kakashi asked. "No, I was only awake for the last few moments…"

"Sakura-chan? Sasuke?" Naruto suddenly exclaimed, looking wildly around toward where he had remembered Sakura and Sasuke on the bridge. "When… what… when did I even black out? Where are they? Are they ok?"

"Your seal saved Sakura," Kakashi muttered, looking downwards in guilt. "And Sasuke was really seriously injured, but he was fixed with a few healing seals and pills, at least until Sakura wakes up and is able to heal him. But how about you? How did you have enough chakra to fight _Haku_? Where did all your wounds go?"

Taking a deep breath, Naruto opened his mouth, then froze as his mouth _moved_ , his eyes suddenly turning red with vertical slits as pupils.

" **Hello, Naruto-kun, Kakashi-kun…"** Kakashi stared, wide-eyed, at Naruto, then back at

"Kyuubi! Stop!" Naruto's voice broke in.

" **Silence yourself. Let me talk, I won't hurt you two. Naruto-kun decided to make a deal with me…"**

"You fool! YOU FOOL!" Kakashi shouted, jumping up and glaring down at Naruto with a fury that could have shattered heavens.

" **And while I can't harm Konoha, or any of his friends, I can have** _ **whatever I want**_ …"

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?" Kakashi screamed, looking wide-eyed at Naruto, the Kyuubi, who chuckled darkly.

"Kakashi-sensei, Haku was about to kill all of you!" Naruto protested.

" **Ah, let me explain what I want."**

Kakashi froze just as Naruto's voice stopped yelling in the background. Pausing for a second to lick his lips, the Kyuubi inside of Naruto's body chuckled as Kakashi glanced toward the door, then back at Naruto.

" **Relax, Kakashi-kun… I won't hurt you…"** At that the Kyuubi paused, before continuing in a far more serious tone. " **I want** _ **you**_ **."**

"What?" Naruto asked, confusion clear in his cerulean eyes.

" **You. Your services and abilities, for four years, doing…** _ **jobs…**_ **for me outside of the village. Alone, with no one else… This will partially serve your village, as I will have you killing previous enemies of mine under a secret identity… Of course, I will teach you useful tricks and abilities, maybe even how to build an arm out of chakra, but you will do my every bidding for four years outside of the village. No, you will not harm your village, or your** _ **friends**_ **. Yes, you will grow more powerful. Yes, you will have to** _ **kill**_ …"

"What-you-NO!" Kakashi yelled, the last word so loud it seemed to shake the room.

" **Oh, yes, Kakashi of the Sharingan. He said** _ **anything**_ **, didn't he?"** The Kyuubi sneered.

"Kyuubi!" Naruto suddenly piped in. "You do realize I can't 'kill' S-class criminals, right? Wouldn't it make more sense for me to go as a Chunin, at least?"

" **Ah, but you are Chunin level, as is your entire team,"** Kyuubi sneered. " **But you** _ **are**_ **right…"**

There was a deep growling sound coming from the depth of Naruto's chest as the Kyuubi looked up in thought.

" **Ah, yes then,** _ **after**_ **the Chunin exams. After the Chunin exams, you will do my bidding for four years."**

"Two years is too long!" Kakashi protested.

" **What do** _ **you**_ **want, then?"** Kyuubi growled sarcastically.

"Kyuubi, you're doing two years, or else I will lock you back into your cage!" Naruto claimed.

 _ **Never, brat.**_

 _If I'm gone for more than two years, I'll hurt my friends emotionally!_

 _ **But you technically haven't**_ **hurt** _ **them physically!**_

 _However, emotional hurt is hurt too! And, it can lead to physical hurt!_

" **Fine,"** Kyuubi growled. " **Two years."**

From out of nowhere, as Kakashi began to watch in horror, Naruto began to _change_. Faint red chakra, barely visible but for the light illuminating it, swirled around and around Naruto before forming half of the Kyuubi cloak around the left side of Naruto's body, an arm of pure red chakra growing out of the left stump. Slowly, the whites of Naruto's left eye turned pure red, and the pupil narrowed into a thin black slit. Finally, as the transformation finished, Naruto's whisker markings on the left side of his face blackened, fangs growing in place of his canines as the Kyuubi finished the deal.

" **Until two years later, Naruto…"**

Then, as Naruto looked downward and crumpled to the ground in surprise, the Kyuubi's presence vanished, leaving Naruto alone with half of the Kyuubi marring his previously boyish features. Blood red chakra swirled around him, occasionally flashing out in a tail, then fading away before appearing once again. Slowly, Naruto looked down at his left arm, then shut his eyes in horror. The arm was pure red, claws adorning the place where his fingernails should have been, his eye blood red and a faint red fox ear growing on the side of his head.

"Kakashi-sensei… am I… evil?" Naruto whispered. Jerking out of a terrified and horrified daze, Kakashi shook his head vigorously and took Naruto by the shoulders.

"No. You're not evil, think, think, Naruto! You just gave two years of your time to this… _demon_ … in order to save your friends! It is the opposite of evil, even Sasuke would say that!" Kakashi protested, then shook his head and pushed up his headband.

"Do you know how I obtained this Sharingan?" Kakashi asked, his voice stony, subdued, unlike his normally sarcastic tone. Numbly, gazing down at the red chakra swirling around him, Naruto shook his head. "My best friend was killed as he saved my life, and gave me this Sharingan as a final gift. Does that mean it is evil, because it resulted from death and sorrow? No, it is not evil because I don't use it for evil, just as you can harness the power of the Kyuubi without harming your village! Listen, Naruto," Kakashi growled, his voice suddenly deep, serious. "You. Are. Not. Evil!"

Turning away, Naruto felt tears began to gather up in his eyes, and he opened his right palm and stared at the intricate snowflake, than back at Kakashi with his red and blue eyes.

"Do you have a string?"

"What?"

"Do you have a string? For the snowflake?"

Nodding dumbly, Kakashi procured a black length of string from his pouch and attached it to the snowflake, then handed it to Naruto, who lifted up his left and right hand and put it slowly onto his neck.

"Let's go outside and tell Sasuke and Sakura," Kakashi murmured.

Peals of laughter rang from Sakura and Sasuke as they wrestled for the last piece of green wrapped candy, a plate of three blue-wrapped candies sitting on the table unnoticed as they fought futilely over the forest green treat. Stopping in dumb amazement, Naruto and Kakashi watched as the emo duck glared at the pink-haired damsel, then yanked with all his strength.

"Is… Sasuke… _wrestling_? Like a _kid_?" Naruto asked, as if he had seen a duck do algebra, which he kind of had. At last, Sasuke had learned the art of pranking, of foolishness, of wrestling and boyhoodness! Then-

"SASUUUKKEEEEE!"

"SAAAKKUUURRAA!"

With a huge crash of breaking furniture, Sasuke and Sakura careened into a sofa, which broke into a pile of jagged wood and pillow stuffing, from with Sakura emerged victorious with the wrapped candy unwrapped and stuffed into her mouth. Then, as Sasuke, grumbling and covered in white marshmellow fluff with pieces of green felt, they noticed Naruto and froze, even as Naruto doubled over at the sight of the white-covered Sasuke.

"What-" Sasuke exclaimed, his eyes wide with awe and fear.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, confused.

"Well, I made a deal with a devil, and here's the mark!" Naruto exclaimed, clutching his stomach as he looked at Sasuke again. "Teme, you look like a pillow!"

"You-you-wha-" Sasuke exclaimed, darkening with rage and thrashing around futilely, trying to remove the fluff as Sakura grabbed his arms and held them there. Sprinting toward Sasuke, who began to curse wildly as Kakashi pulled out a camera, Naruto began to pile fluff on top of Sasuke, seizing the left arm that managed to break free.

 _Click!_

Slowly, the picture slid out of the camera, revealing Sasuke kneeling in the middle of a pile of fluff, his hair filled with white stuffing and covered in pieces of green felt, his arms held tightly by Naruto and Sakura, who were grinning happily, disregarding Naruto's fangs and red eye, Sasuke's face grumpy and pissed.

 _Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura…_

 _I'm kinda starting to become fond of you guys,_ Kakashi thought, shutting his eyes and repelling the pictures of himself, Obito, and Rin that flashed into his mind, telling himself that he would not fail once more.

Suddenly, with a loud puff, a huge ball of white fluff, dotted with green felt and even a few splinters, landed on Kakashi's face and exploded, causing him to splutter, shake his head, and growl in rage as he turned around to remove his mask for a split-second, brushing off the cotton that had wound up on his face. _Never mind._ Pulling it back up, he turned around to see another ball of white zooming toward him, ducking just in tme to avoid the second ball of fluff, which zoomed past and hit the opposite wall, exploding in white fluff.

"HAHAHAHAHHAHA!" Naruto yelled with laughter, before a smaller ball of fluff exploded over his chest. "NOOOOO, YOUUUUUU!"

Two minutes later, as Tsunami peeked into the room to investigate the cause of the explosions of noise rocking the house, expecting a catastrophic battle or a chakra-enhanced arm wrestling match, she saw the silver-haired sensei and his three students in the pile of fluff, laughing their heads off, broken wood shoved to the side of the walls, Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi each holding a sky-blue piece of candy as Sakura sulked in the corner.

Oh, Kakashi would pay for taking her candy.

Yes, he would, she promised to herself. Oh yes, he would.

* * *

 **Two Weeks Later, at the Hokage Office:**

"Very good job. Very good job, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. That was a B-rank mission, maybe even A. I'll give you the pay for that, and you get a break. You really deserve one," Hiruzen praised Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Sakura was looking down at her feet, flushing with pride, Sasuke his stoic, emo self, and Naruto bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, grinning so wide his face looked like it was split in two. "Go take your break. Kakashi, Naruto, stay here…"

Glancing at each other, Sakura and Sasuke slowly backed out of the room and shut the door.

"Out of the tower, kids!" Hiruzen called, before a loud sigh was heard from outside the door and barely audible footsteps padded out of the room, until only silence remained.

"Naruto made a deal with the Kyuubi," Kakashi muttered, watching Hiruzen gaze at Naruto with an almost pitying gaze, the red chakra coating his left side darkening and flickering with several tails before fading again.

"As I can see."

Silence.

"Haku was going to kill us after we battled Ragai and Fuguki, so I begged Kyuubi for help. I promised him anything that wouldn't harm my friends or Konoha so that he would heal my wounds and replenish my chakra. So he did. What he asked for in return was two years of service outside of the village, in which he would teach me to get revenge on those he has despised. He agreed that I would leave after I passed the Chunin exams,"

" **Indeed I did.** "

"Kyuubi, _shut up!_ "

" **And you can force me-"**

"Kittens! Come out!"

" **No, Naruto, Naruto, please, please-"**

In Naruto's mindscape, Naruto shaped the previously Kyuubi-pee filled gutters into a flowery meadow covered in prancing, meowing, and extremely cute and funny.

" **NOOOOOOO!"** Repelled by the disgusting cuteness, Naruto exited the mindscape just as the Kyuubi began to claw and stomp on the transparent kittens, who continued meowing, playing, frolicking, and being cute.

"What were we doing?" Naruto asked, then noticed Kakashi and Hiruzen staring at him with a dumbstruck expression. "Oh, I just covered the place in kittens. It always works."

"Uh…" Hiruzen smiled to himself, then nodded at both Kakashi and Naruto. "Naruto, don't get carried away with your newfound power. Just do what the Kyuubi wants, then leave."

"I will use the abilities the Kyuubi gives me, but I will not be swept away by the power," Naruto promised. Smiling fondly at Naruto, both Kakashi and Hiruzen gazed at him with an admiring gaze, before Hiruzen nodded slowly.

"Good, Naruto. Now, go take your break," Hiruzen urged.

As Kakashi poofed away, Naruto stepped outside and immediately located Sakura and Sasuke, standing outside the Hokage Tower, both of them jumping up from their spot on the ground and opening their mouths to begin to ask questions.

"Guys. I have an idea," Naruto interrupted them before they could start. Both of them stared back at him, confused. "Let's find out what's under Kakashi's mask."

Both of them stared, dumbstruck, before Sasuke shook his head and began to walk away.

"That's a stupid idea, we should be training," Sasuke told them.

"Well…" Sakura thought, her face tilted up to the sky. "It's most likely impossible, I heard no one has ever seen him without his mask on!"

Naruto ignored this. "What if he has… fish lips?"

An image of Kakashi's face, with a normal sized nose but huge and pouty red lips, filled Sasuke's head, causing shivers to tingle down his spine.

"Or… maybe a small mouth?"

As Naruto said this, Sasuke shook visibly, an image of a tiny old-woman mouth on Kakashi's face.

"Perhaps… buck teeth?"

Swaying on his feet, Sasuke turned around suddenly, eyes wide and half scared/ half challenging.

"Let's go do this, guys," He snarled. "We're finding out what's under Kakashi's mask. Now."

From the shadows in the nearby alleys, Kakashi smiled dryly. _If they wanted to play this game… I can become a player…_

"So, what do we do first?" Naruto asked, frowning as he sipped on a cup of water. Shrugging, Sasuke and Sakura both stared at each other, at Naruto, and then at each other.

"We should track him throughout the day. We should be able to find him somewhere to start, probably at the cemetary or maybe the Icha Icha store," Sasuke eventually commented, frowning as he knit his brows.

"I'll go first!" Naruto eagerly offered. Zooming off on feather-like, quiet steps, Naruto headed toward the nearest Icha Icha shop, frowning when he saw the lack of a certain silver-haired Kakashi Hatake from his normal place ogling the newest release or deluxe editions. Shutting his eyes, Naruto began to search for chakra signatures, searching for the familiar one of Kakashi Hatake, and then-

"There!" Naruto exclaimed, before he took off running in the direction of the nearest grocery store. As he neared it, Naruto ducked behind a corner and noticed a flash of silver hair, and then leaned over to peer into the window. Kakashi Hatake was standing, back facing the window, holding a bag of groceries in one hand and one book in the other, obviously flipping through it, pages crinkling as they were quickly flip.

So Naruto waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally, growling with frustration, Naruto stomped toward the door, opened it, and then stopped in astonishment. In the second that Naruto had walked, losing sight of Kakashi in that fraction of time, he had vanished.

"Did you find anything? Anything at all?" Both Sasuke and Sakura yelled as soon as they spotted Naruto walking toward them.

"Um…"

"BAKA!" Sakura yelled, glaring at him as Naruto sat down heavily and stared down at the stone cup in front of him.

"He just vanished! He was reading in the grocery for two hours, and when I went to go inside, he vanished! Just like that!"

"BULLSHIT!" Sakura spat. "I'm going next, and we're going to find out what's under his mask, even if you are a failure, _baka_!"

Sasuke and Naruto shrugged at each other as they watched her stomp off.

 _He's been standing here for two hours_ , Sakura complained as she, shielded only partly from the pouring rain by the tree branches above her as she glanced at Kakashi, then back at the sodden book in her hands.

Wait.

Was that… straw? Poking out from Kakashi's side?

Running forward and shoving the bushes covering her aside, causing a spray of droplets to fly through the air, Sakura ran toward Kakashi Hatake, standing in front of the tombstone, and ducked in front of her.

Instead of his mask and single melancholy eye, Sakura met the gaze of two poorly drawn eyes and a mouth, sticking out a tongue.

Kakashi had defeated them again.

"You failed too, Sakura? I mean, I know the dobe would, but you…"

"SHUT UP TEME!" Naruto yelled, looking pouty and angry. "You're going to fail too, believe it!" Ignoring Naruto, Sasuke stood up as Sakura sat down in his place, dripping wet, and sighed.

"I'm trying next. Just you see, I'll see what's under his mask…"

Sasuke soon was following Kakashi as he walked about the Konoha village, watching in increasing levels of boredom as Kakashi walked around. And around. And around the village, face buried in _Icha Icha Tactics,_ before Sasuke finally exploded in anger. Stomping toward Kakashi, Sasuke was just about to ask him in a yell how Kakashi had became a ninja if he spent hours walking around the village until Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke.

 _Shadow Clone Jutsu._

Sighing in defeat, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura slowly walked home in grim and utter defeat.

"Why do you guys look so tired?" Kakashi asked as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura made their way to the training ground, sending furtive glances toward him as they began to half-heartedly train. All three of them glanced at each other, then back at Kakashi, then returned to their training. Stifling a laugh, Kakashi smiled as Naruto leaned in to whisper to Sasuke, who glared at him and shook her head.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto finally asked. Sasuke and Sakura both shook their heads at Naruto, who ignored them.

"What, Naruto?"

"Um… what'sunderyourmask?" Naruto blurted.

"What?" Kakashi asked, confused.

"What's under your mask?"

"Why, is that all you wanted to know? I'll show you, if you want."

Sasuke and Sakura gasped, and they both ran up toward him and stared, wide eyed, as Kakashi reached up and put a hand on the top of the mask.

"Under my mask is…"

 _Buck teeth?_ Sakura pondered.

 _Big lips?_ Sasuke asked himself.

 _A small mouth?_ Naruto wondered.

"Under my mask is…"

"Under his mask is…"

"Another mask!"

With that, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura collapsed to the ground in horror as Kakashi began to laugh at their horror, their disappointment, their sadness… they were so close… so close… but they had failed…

* * *

 **Two Weeks Later:**

"KAKASHI-SENSEI! YOU'RE LATE AGAIN!" Naruto and Sakura screamed, even Sasuke glaring up at Kakashi as he popped down next to them. Today, Kakashi was even later than usual, four hours late.

"I had a meeting," Kakashi made an excuse. Both Naruto and Sakura glanced up at him suspiciously, but then he took out three red tickets, emblished at the top with the large word _Chunin._

"I signed you guys up for the Chunin Exams."

* * *

 **Yes, the CHUNIN EXAMS! I'M SO EXCITED TO WRITE THIS!**

 **It's one of those points you have already prepared and you waited for forever to post it.**

 **Hope you enjoy, please read and review!**


	8. Chapter 7

**I know it's late, I'm really sorry, so much has happened in my life... I'm sorry...**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

"Chunin exams?" Naruto asked, his mouth open and his eyes wide. "But… already? But… how… when?"

Sorrow flickered over Kakashi's faces as he realized that after the Chunin exams, Naruto would have to leave. Leave the village without them, for two years, where he would have to do things unthinkable for normal children their age. Twelve, twelve, _twelve_ years old-enslaved to the Kyuubi to _kill_ at _twelve years old_.

But of course, Naruto wasn't a normal child.

Shaking off the thought, Kakashi eye smiled as all three of them took the red sheets, the letters on it brazenly spelling out "Chunin."

"Two months. One month of which we will be on break. Every day, you will come here at 7:00 A.M.-"

"So 12:00 P.M.," Sakura muttered, her face twisted into a frown.

"7:00 A.M., where you will begin to do the physical exercises I set up carved on this tree trunk right here," Kakashi continued, ignoring the comment and pointing at the large oak tree behind him, a kunai stuck at about Kakashi's height in the wood.

"At 12:00 P.M., as Sakura so kindly explained, I will begin your training. You guys will take turns with me every three days, in the days I am not personally training you, you will be doing-" at this he pointed at Sakura "Tailed Beast Chakra Control-"

"WHAT?" Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura yelled. Kakashi eye smiled.

"Since Naruto can now technically access the Kyuubi Chakra whenever he wants-"

" **Brat, you shouldn't have that right,"** Kyuubi growled.

"Kyuubi, SHUT UP!" Naruto yelled.

" **Alright."**

"Since Naruto can now access the Kyuubi Chakra," Kakashi continued, as if nothing had happened, "Sakura and Sasuke can too. Sasuke. Sasuke, look at me-"

Startled by the sudden ferocity in Kakashi's voice, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto all looked at him, wide-eyed.

"Sasuke. You. Can. Not. At _any point_! ANY POINT! Attempt to access the Kyuubi Chakra. The Kyuubi is… twisted. Evil. Anybody who attempts to take his chakra will be goaded with promises of unstoppable power. Even Naruto has told me about times when he nearly tore off the seal imprisoning the Kyuubi, and Naruto's…"

"Naruto," Sakura breathed.

"You might be completely overtaken with the need for the power that the Kyuubi offers, and trust me, he will not give it to you," Kakashi finished, praying that Sasuke wouldn't take this the wrong way. It wasn't that he was _evil_ , just easily swayed, easily tempted, willing to do nearly anything to avenge his clan.

Nearly anything.

But he wouldn't sacrifice the village. Right?

"I understand," Sasuke breathed, his eyes widening with realization he watched the chakra around Naruto swirl in circles.

"Sasuke, you will study a unique form of taijutsu that one my extremely close late friend developed, known as the Dancing Hummingbird Taijutsu." At this, Sakura giggled. "Don't laugh! It might be more deadly than the…" at this, he stopped, mouth twitching with amusement, "taijutsu of Maito Gai, he was defeated by it. Naruto, you will be learning more jutsu, specifically a jutsu that my sensei specialized in. You will also continue to refine your chakra control."

"Wasn't his sensei the Fourth Hokage? Why would he teach me something from the Fourth Hokage?" Naruto asked in a whisper to Sakura and Sasuke.

"Well, you should be happy, didn't you say you wanted to be Hokage? The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, he was one of the most powerful Hokages ever." Sakura replied as Sasuke shrugged, his usual emo duck self. As they stood in a moment of silence, the bushes behind them rustled and a muffled curse was uttered, and Naruto whirled around to face a glass bottle flying toward his face, thrown by a villager hidden in the bushes.

"DEMON SCUM!" The villager yelled, his eyes wide with rage and fear as the red chakra around Naruto batted it away.

"What-" Kakashi began, but his voice was drowned out as Sakura and Sasuke, both glaring in rage, unleashed a barrage of shuriken that pinned the villager's clothes to the nearest tree.

"Guys!" Naruto exclaimed rebukingly, seizing the back of Sakura's and Sasuke's shirts. "I told you, the villagers always do this, it'll wear off after I come back from the two years and I look normal again!"

"But, he called you _demon scum_!" Sakura growled, straining toward the villagers.

"How many times do I have to go over this? First of all, I am _technically_ a 'demon,' and second, I really don't care what they say or do, so they can call me whatever they want," Naruto directed the last words forcefully at the villager. Striding purposefully toward the now terrified old man, Naruto yanked off the kunai and walked away, facing away from the enemy he did not fear, his back straight and proud. Falling down onto his knees, the man glared upward at Naruto's retreating back with hatred, then surged upward, running toward Naruto with a shard of glass clutched in his hand. Before he had covered even half the distance, though, a tall, silver blur pinned him by the neck to the same tree, his single eye widened with a emotion so rarely seen on this usually bored and apathetic face that it took awhile for Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura to register:

Anger.

Anger was shining in his eyes as a manianical gleam as Kakashi shoved the man through three trees, wood splintering and trees crashing to the ground, ignoring his cries of pain.

"Serves you right," Kakashi muttered, glaring at the splintered trees as the bleeding man crawled away, glancing behind him occasionally, a terrified expression seemingly frozen on his face.

"Kakashi-sensei, while I do appreciate your… spirit… the villagers are just going to be even more pissed at Naruto now," Sasuke bluntly told him.

"Is this happening every day?" Kakashi asked, whirling around and glaring at Naruto, who shrugged and glanced away.

"If I can deal with it as a kid, I can deal with it now… I mean, whenever they try to throw something at me, it gets deflected, and none of them dare come near the Uchiha District. I went out for a walk a few days ago and got jumped by a drunken crowd, but I didn't get injured."

At Sasuke and Sakura's glare, he fidgeted uncomfortably.

"That much."

Their glare intensified, but Naruto remained silent, even as their glares smoldered into fires of rage.

"Yeah. _That much_. Uh-huh. A broken arm, way too many gashes to count, stab wounds, two degree one burns, and a mild concussion. Not that much, at all. It didn't take Sakura basically all of her chakra to heal it, either" Sasuke sarcastically commented.

"Well-" But Naruto's words were drowned by an explosion.

"WHAT?" Kakashi exclaimed, jumping up from his spot on a log, his left leg casually propped up his right leg. "Why didn't you go to the hospital?"

"Well, the last time I went when I was four, they tried to poison me, but the Kyuubi took care of that. I basically couldn't hold down food for four days, but-"

"WHAT?" Kakashi exclaimed again, then collected himself. "Naruto, why didn't you tell the Hokage?"

"Well, it stopped after I made friends with Sasuke and Sakura, except on my birthday, so I always stay inside on that day. I haven't been injured because of the Kyuubi once besides the latest one ever since I met them," Naruto hurriedly exclaimed.

"Well."

Silence, as Kakashi began to carve words on a _different_ oak tree, the first in splinters, where he wrote out about twenty different exercises and then smiled in an sadistic, evil way.

"Have fun!"

"WAIT-" The three yelled, their eyes widened with panik

But he was gone.

"Two hundred laps around the lake… one hundred squats… two hundred pushups on one hand… WHAT?" Sakura exclaimed, her eyes wide as she stopped reading, looking around in horror at the boys, who shook their heads and sat down.

"How will he know if we do them?" Naruto asked mischievously.

"Look, at the bottom, he carved _I will know if you don't do them._ "

"Ugh… typical Kaka-sensei," Naruto groaned.

"Oh, he also says, _the person who does the most gets to train with me first…_ "

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto glanced at each other. Sakura waved a hand, as if saying, _yes, you guys fight, I'd rather not._

And with that, Naruto and Sasuke took off sprinting around and around the lake.

* * *

 _They attacked his student. His student. So much he didn't dare go outside. And he got hurt. Hurt by those pieces of scum so badly that Sakura drained all of her chakra. And then, he couldn't even go to the hospital. This village…_ Kakashi fumed as he destroyed about twenty trees in his furious rampage through the forest toward the village. Leaping onto the Hokage Monument, Kakashi's right hand activated with the Chidori as stood at the top of the Monument. Forming another hand sign, a Shadow Clone appeared by his side. The Clone's left hand also lit up with a chidori, and with a huge explosion of birds chirping, a wolf of lightning exploded down from the summit and crashed down into the forest below, causing a huge explosion as villagers below looked up in shocked surprise.

"Listen. To. Me," Kakashi's chakra enhanced voice boomed out from the mountain. To the people below, his figure was tall, threatening, looming and glowing with lightning as he manipulated the chakra around him. "Naruto Uzumaki is being repetitively attacked by you… scum…" He paused, allowing the shouts of outrage and agreement from below to fade. "Listen to me. Harm Naruto Uzumaki one more time and you. Will. Pay." Shouts of fear and anger from below. "Yes, I, Kakashi Hatake, will make you pay. Do you hear me?"

Silence. Absolute dead silence from the village below.

"DO YOU HEAR ME?" Kakashi yelled, his voice roaring through the village like an enormous tiger's roar. "Remember this…"

Then, with a puff of smoke, he vanished.

* * *

 **11:55 P.M.**

"How… are… you… still…" Dry retching broke between Sakura's words as she lay on the ground, staring up at the sky. Sweat dripped down in trails of wetness down Naruto's face as he did his 283rd pushup after 200 laps around the lake, 100 squats, 200 punches, and thirty minute plank. Sasuke had passed out some ten feet away after his "thirty minute" plank, and Sakura was taking a "short" break on the ground and was consequently dozing off, jerking awake just as she was about to completely give in to restful sleep. Finally, as Naruto did his 300th pushup, his arms gave out and he collapsed to the ground, staring up at the sky, breathing harsh and quick as his chest rose and fell so rapidly Sakura could tell his heart rate must be reaching a dangerous point.

"Maybe you should take a break…?" She hesitantly suggested as Naruto attempted to push himself back up, then fell back as his arms gave out.

"No! My ninja way is to never give up!" Naruto protested, pushing himself up slowly and shaking so badly he almost looked like he had a fever.

"As you've said about 1,000,000,000 times in the last hour, dobe," Sasuke's extremely pissed and tired voice said from where he lay on the ground. As all of them lay on the ground in complete, mind-devouring, and absolute fatigue, there was a small _pop_ and a puff of smoke.

"Aw, look… all three of you are tired, already? I expected more of you, Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto," Kakashi-fucking-Hatake commented as he perched on the top of a tree, his eye closed in the typical eye-smile.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled out, jumping to his feet, previous fatigue forgotten. "You have to train me first! You promised! The person who finished the most exercises can train with you first!"

"Well…" Kakashi frowned. "I need you to complete some Chakra Exercises first… I want to train Sasuke, because the hours spent when you guys are training will be wasted if I train you guys first."

He paused, wincing inwardly as Naruto's face fell with disappointment.

"And… I have to retrieve some notes from my Sensei, too."

His face brightened again, but Kakashi just felt more guilt as he teetered between teaching Naruto the Flying Raijin Jutsu and merely developing his Chakra God jutsu.

"Sasuke, come on. Oh, you'll want to bring some cash tomorrow, guys."

At their confused faces, Kakashi smirked.

"You'll need to buy some supplies… A lot, actually…"

"Now listen to me," Kakashi told Sasuke, who calmly stared back with eerie onyx eyes as he stretched his fingers and arms. "The Dancing Hummingbird Taijutsu technique is extremely difficult to learn… it bases it's motions on speed, agility, and, most of all, the amount of power with which you strike. The hummingbird's motions are quick, flitting from one to another, and you will be the same-you will be quick and agile, avoiding all blows from your opponent. Just as a dancer perfects a few basic actions and movements and then moves on to develop and build on them, you will learn six different attacks and then combine the quickness and agility you perfect into a perfect series of avoiding all attacks and outmaneuvering your opponent and then spotting any and every weakness in your opponent, then striking in that spot with a single and powerful attack that will, hopefully, decimate your opponent."

 _I'm screwed,_ Sasuke's mind calculated as he realized the enormity of this task.

"Also, in the meantime," Kakashi continued, "You will work on a few long-ranged lightning Jutsu. I'm sure Naruto can help you with that, but his teaching methods might… distract you two more than teach."

 _Thank god he knows that,_ Sasuke nodded, relieved.

"For the Dancing Hummingbird, you will need a pair of special blades that are rarely used, the tanto. It is a stabbing blade that is short and light, perfect for the Dancing Hummingbird."

From his pouch, Kakashi retrieved two long daggers, about ten inches long, it's handle wrapped securely in leather. Instead of taking the blades, Sasuke glanced at the skeptically, then slowly retrieved them and gave a few experimental waves with the short swords.

"Stop that. Wrong. Wrong… Listen, the handle is grasped like this-yes, yes, like that-be prepared at any time to reverse your blade. No, don't drop it-yes, like that. Reverse it whenever you _know_ you will hit and-no, not like that-"

"Let me figure this out!" Sasuke exploded as he dropped his blade while trying to reverse his grip. Mouth twitching underneath the mask, Kakashi backed away placently and watched in amusement as the edgy teen fumbled with the knives, then shook his head and sighed.

"I need to teach you how to train your agility for this purpose. First of all, you're going to need to do exercises more than both Naruto and Sakura-"

Sasuke groaned.

"Hey, you signed up for this when you decided to specialize in Kenjutsu. Oh, make sure you continue to work on your Chukoto skills too, if you are fighting an opponent that is physically stronger than you that uses a longer blade than these tanto. After completing the exercises that I will set up daily, you will need to perfect these-"

And so Kakashi began to name about twenty different exercises, including agility ladder exercises, crunches, suicide runs, and all methods of torture known to man.

"Also," Kakashi commented after a moment of silence as Sasuke mentally prepared himself for the worst time of his life. "You're going to do everything-and I mean everything, like live with them everything-with these."

As Sasuke's eyes widened in horror, Kakashi took two weights, meant to be strapped onto the legs, out of his bag, and dropped them onto the ground.

"After I deem your agility, speed, endurance, and strength good enough, you will begin to train your attacks and then the overall form of the Hummingbird," Kakashi finished, smiling as Sasuke's eyes filled with even more horror. "Use my materials-" at this he gestured at the weights and tantos "-for now. Buy your own tomorrow. Good luck!"

 _Oh god. Can I cancel?_ Sasuke wondered as he strapped on the weights and quite literally fell over as he attempted to walk.

"How do I do suicide runs and exercises with this on?" Sasuke asked, pissed as hell, as he whirled around to glare at Kakashi-fucking-sensei.

But of course, he had vanished.

* * *

 **The Next Day:**

"How are you guys today?" Kakashi-sensei asked as he popped into visibility on the railing next to the training ground. "Oh. Are you ok?" He asked sarcastically as he viewed Sasuke on the ground, Naruto still shakily doing about a situp a minute, and Sakura out cold on the ground.

"You… jerk…" Sasuke groaned, lifting his right ankle up and then letting it drop down again onto the ground.

"Dit-" Naruto gagged. "Ditto."

"Yes, well, someone get Sakura up, it's her turn," Kakashi responded, shrugging as he smiled underneath the mask. Pushing himself up with a groan, Sasuke sent a glare that, if looks could kill, would have murdered Kakashi, before punching Sakura in the shoulder _hard_. She squealed, then jerked awake and sent a glare at his direction, then turned toward Kakashi with a even more bitchy stare.

"What's wrong, Sakura?" Kakashi asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

All three students glared at him.

"Ah well. Come on, it's your turn."

Glares.

"Alright, alright, I'll go easier on you next time!" Kakashi exclaimed after about five minutes of silence, the pairs of green, blue, and black eyes filled with fiery rage that promised death still fixed on him as Sakura slowly pushed herself up shakily and followed him into the forest.

Somehow, the three students all knew Kakashi wouldn't keep that promise.

"Cero is a very powerful jutsu," Cyclops began, his eye serious as he fixed it on Sakura. "But, it lacks sufficient attacking strength to knock out opponents with more endurance. It also lacks sufficient variation in your attacks… therefore, I will work with you to form a different type of Cero, one that can utilize chakra that is not just next to you but also further away. Also, I will _attempt-_ as I said, _attempt_ -to teach you how to make a Cero out of Kyuubi Chakra. However. _However…_ "

Kakashi stopped, a pained expression on his face.

"After thinking about this for several days, I have come to the conclusion that you cannot use the Kyuubi Chakra as Naruto goes on his… journey."

"What?" Sakura exclaimed, leaping up from her seat on a fallen log and staring at Kakashi in shock.

"When Naruto goes on the journey, the Kyuubi will have a dangerous amount of control over him. If the control stretches to you over the chakra…" He trailed off, looking unsure of what he was going to say next. "The Kyuubi only promised that Naruto wouldn't hurt anyone. That means that the Kyuubi could use you to harm the village if you use the chakra."

 _Among other things…_

 _The Kyuubi could use you to completely break Naruto._

"Oh, well…" Sakura muttered, looking dubious and disappointed.

"Well, first of all, we're going to need to improve your Chakra control. Yes, even more than you have now. You will need to be able to send tiny tendrils of chakra through the air and absorb chakra from it, then attack with the chakra you absorb _from the air_ so that you can use as little chakra as possible in your attacks."

"Wow…" Sakura breathed as she contemplated the advantages of this technique.

"After that, I will teach you how to use the Kyuubi Chakra as a cloak instead of normal chakra… the Kyuubi Chakra will be even more powerful version of yours, if used correctly, perhaps it can deflect deflect like Naruto's current one…" Kakashi trailed off, looking at the sky in contemplation. "Also, I'm thinking about finding you a different sensei after the Chunin exams, maybe…"

"Who?" Sakura asked curiously.

Kakashi didn't respond, though he muttered something about 'solitary old drunk hag' and 'don't know how I'll find or persuade her…'

Sakura sat down, cross legged, and waited for Kakashi to speak.

"I will need you to spend half of the time I'm not training you on building chakra control… this one that I teach you is extremely complicated and used only in Suna, but will effectively teach you more chakra control than you have now and will also help you in missions to Suna. In the Hiyakedome no Waza, you will create a thin layer of chakra around you to block the sun from reaching your body. This will be extremely easy, because you have already perfected Cero. Then, after you perfect that, you will begin to expand the reach of your Hiyakedome no Waza. The further the reach of your chakra, the more difficult it will be. At the same time, you will attempt to reach outward toward objects with tiny tendrils of chakra and then mark your target with a tiny pierce. Do you get it?" Kakashi asked. Sakura's eyes were screwed shut as she nodded just the slightly. Hurriedly reaching upward and lifting his headband, Kakashi watched intently as a thin, tiny tendril of chakra reached outward slowly toward the nearest rock, then vanished about a foot from Sakura. She frowned, than sat down cross legged on the ground and tried again, with no better results.

"Try the Hiyakedome no Waza first," Kakashi suggested, and Sakura sighed and frowned at the closest stone, then shut her eyes. Slowly, as Kakashi watched in appreciation, she began the chakra exercises.

* * *

 **The Third Day:**

"IS IT MY TURN YET?" Naruto screamed in excitement, so loudly that Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke winced.

"Yes…"

"YAYYYYY!" Naruto yelled.

"SHUT UP!" Sakura screamed, her hands clapped over her ears as she screwed up her eyes in concentration, unsuccessfully attempting the tendril thing again. Sasuke was taking tentative steps, stumbling every few feet to the delight of Naruto and to the bruising of his ego.

"Come on, Naruto," Kakashi told him. Bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, Naruto grinned broadly as he followed Kakashi into the forest. Finally, Kakashi stopped, then pulled three odd, heavy kunai with three prongs and seals covering the handle out of his bag.

"I will be teaching you my sensei's signature Jutsu," Kakashi told Naruto after a moment of silence. "The Flying Raijin Jutsu."

* * *

 **Hopefully you enjoyed this random piece of writing that really had no purpose!**

 **Please review, and check out my extremely depressing Christmas special!**

 **Cya!**


	9. Chapter 8

**I POSTED ON TIMEEEE**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"I will be teaching you my sensei's signature Jutsu," Kakashi told Naruto after a moment of silence. "The Flying Raijin Jutsu."

Silence.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, his face shaped into a mask of confusion, brows furrowed as he stared up at Kakashi.

 _Patient, patient. Naruto doesn't even know that the Fourth Hokage was his father. This is normal._ Kakashi scolded himself at the sudden burst of anger that he felt when Naruto asked. The image of his yellow-haired sensei, bangs hanging to his jaw, more subdued blue eyes that still twinkled merrily just like Naruto's replaced Naruto's, just for an instant, and Kakashi became that stuck up prick that caused the team's death, the student who thought he was almost a ninja but really understood nothing, _nothing_ , about being a ninja…

But then Kakashi was standing tall over Naruto, who stared up at him in confusion as Kakashi shook his head as if shaking water from his hair and then sighed.

"Flying Raijin Jutsu is a jutsu that allows you to, essentially, teleport."

"Cool…" Naruto breathed, his eyes widening with excitement.

"However, there are restrictions. Your teleportations will be based on sensing a seal and then unsummoning yourself, then summoning yourself onto, or in this case, beside the seal. My sensei, Minato Namikaze, would throw these kunai-" At this, Kakashi brandished the three-pronged kunai with the intricate seals on the handle at Naruto, who slowly took them and examined them closely.

"This would be a location seal, this would connect the chakra source to the user, this would send out a chakra source for long distances so that the user can sense it…" Naruto murmured, his brows furrowed, running his fingers over the seal and slowly analyzing the characters. Eyebrows raised, Kakashi watched him with amazement as Naruto flipped the kunai up and down, then frowned and reached into his pocket for a scrap of paper, which he began scribbling rapidly on, biting his lip as he tilted his head to better see a tiny letter.

"As you have already seen, this involves extreme skill with fuinjutsu-"

"What is this seal?" Naruto asked, his brow furrowed as he pointed at the largest letter in the center and then drawing it in the dirt.

"Let me continue, I'll explain all of this to you later."

No response as Naruto frowned, still examining the kunai.

"HELLO!" Kakashi yelled. Glancing up in surprise, Naruto sighed and reluctantly put down the kunai and shoved the scrap of paper into his pocket.

"Moving on… you will need skill with fuinjutsu and extreme proficiency at Chakra Control."

A groan.

"Also, you need to be able to sense the chakra of the seal."

"You're kidding me! This is gonna be impossible!" Naruto exploded, standing up and staring wide-eyed at Kakashi, expecting him to yell out "JUST KIDDING!" Unfortunately, Kakashi just stared back, his single eye displaying the barest of amusement as he shook his head.

"Nope, I'm not kidding you. Now, what I want you to do is resume your chakra exercises-"

"NOOOOOO!" Naruto yelled.

"Yes," Kakashi replied, smirking underneath his mask. "I also want you to practice chakra sensing, which I'm sure you can ask Sakura about, and to study fuinjutsu in close detail, especially about space/time ninjutsu and fuinjutsu. Study the fuinjutsu seal on Minato-sensei's kunai, as it will be your greatest guide. Most importantly, you need to develop your formula."

"My what?" Naruto interrupted.

"The Flying Raijin works with seals. Minato-sensei used this kunai, upon which he would place his _formula_ , so that he would be able to teleport to it. Minato-sensei could place his formula at the slightest touch, so that, for example, if he marked this tree-" Kakashi pointed at the nearest oak tree. "His formula would stay there _forever_ unless in extremely rare circumstances, and at any time, from any distance, he could teleport from wherever he was to this tree."

"Whoa…" Naruto breathed.

"The formula is the base of the Flying Raijin. _However,_ your formula _cannot_ be the same as any other. The Second Hokage's formula is unknown, but the Fourth Hokage's formula is on his kunai. You will have to incorporate all of the parts of seal you see from Minato-sensei's formula into your own, while using different mechanics," Kakashi explained.

"What?" Naruto exploded as he stared down at his hands, where he was still holding the special kunai. "This is so complex… I'm supposed to be replicating this without using the same elements of fuinjutsu?"

"Yep."

"WHAT?"

"If you need more help, the Third Hokage was the student of the First and Second. I think he knows what the Second Hokage's seal was, but I didn't bother to ask him, I was kinda in a hurry yesterday when I prepared for your lesson."

Silence.

"Anyway," Kakashi continued. "You need to perfect your chakra control to accomplish this jutsu. You will need to master Water Walking before anything else, then hopefully the Sunblock jutsu that Sakura is learning. Also start perfecting your chakra sensing, I can tell you have some prowess, but you will need to have better chakra sensing to perform this jutsu."

"So I needa develop this formula thingy, chakra control, and chakra sensing?" Naruto asked, sounding highly doubtful of _something_ as he stared up at Kakashi in dumb amazement.

"Yup."

"Does that mean I'll need to go the library?" Naruto asked.

"Yes…" Kakashi replied, eyebrows raised.

"Wait. I'll be right back!" Naruto announced to no one in particular, then vanished. Stepping forward, Kakashi leaned back onto the tree behind him, then scratched his shock of gravity-defying hair and shrugged. About two minutes, Naruto had returned with a pile of scrolls which he dumped on the ground: _Space-Time Ninjutsu, Space-Time Fuinjutsu, A Close Study of the Techniques and Skills of the Second Hokage, A Close Study of the Flying Raijin Jutsu, Fuinjutsu: An Advanced Guide, The Fourth Hokage,_ etc., etc.

 _Wait…_ Kakashi stepped forward, brows furrowed, and looked closely at the scrolls. On the right upper corner of the open scroll Naruto was holding, a tiny stamp with a single kanji that meant _Fire._

"What-how-wait-huh?" Kakashi stammered as the realization overcame him. Somehow, _somehow_ , Naruto had gained access to the restricted scrolls and records of the _Hokage._ Even he, Kakashi Hatake, a highly skilled and feared _Jonin_ , hadn't been able to gain access in his numerous years of being a ninja.

So how had Naruto done it?

"Oh, these?" Naruto asked, looking up from his book and frowning down at the _Fire_ kanji. "Well, I have my sources."

However, from his pleased smirk at Kakashi's puzzled expression and the mischevious glint in his eyes, Kakashi could tell that his "sources" may very well be a strategically placed shadow clone and a masterful bout of the Sexy Jutsu.

 **Ten Days Later:**

"Since you guys are obviously getting nowhere, and my lessons are now obviously a waste of time, I've taken a S-rank mission, you know, for some fun. Do whatever you want in that time period," Kakashi-fucking-sensei told Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. They stared up at him, all laying like flattened ducks on the ground, puddles of vomit soaking into the ground as Sasuke slowly stood up and lifted his feet up and down, then sighed and glared up at Kakashi-fucking-sensei.

"Can I take off these weights?" He asked. Out of the three students, the emo Uchiha was probably suffering the most: he spent his first few days stumbling around, his ankles sore and bruised from the extreme weight put upon them, his whole body sore even as he struggled through agility and speed training.

"No."

"Can I do something besides for try fuinjutsu shit?" Naruto asked, glaring with hatred at the pile of scrolls, parchment, ink, and brushes piled under the shade of a particularly large oak tree.

"No."

"You're lucky, dobe… you don't have to run around in circles with sixty million pounds of weight strapped on your ankles," Sasuke remarked at the same time.

"Yeah, but am I really the type of person to want to spend hours sitting underneath a tree writing? That's _Sakura._ I'd rather exercise," Naruto whined, picking up a brush and then sighing as he dolefully regarded the lists of kanji and symbols on abandoned paper, ignoring Kakashi-fucking-sensei's response.

If someone would have looked down at the three occupied students an hour later, they would have seen a black haired Uchiha almost obsessively repeating exercises with the agility ladder, stumbling every two feet, which was admittedly a huge improvement from when he couldn't walk with his weights, a pink-haired Haruno sitting cross legged on the ground, hand clasped together, breathing harsh even as _nothing happened_ , except to the most perceptive eye, which would have seen a thin layer of chakra covering the stones and earth two feet around her, and a yellow-haired Uzumaki staring down at a scroll "explaining" advanced Space-Time Fuinjutsu in "close and simple" detail.

 _Dammit!_ Sasuke screamed at himself as he collapsed, his feet unable to keep up with the speed he was attempting to run at. _Weak. Weak. You'll never catch up to Itachi at this point!_

" _So weak…"_ Itachi's voice echoed inside his head.

 _So weak. You're so weak. Fucking worthless, you're fucking worthless. Look! Dead Last Dobe is almost as powerful as you! You're so weak, so weak!_

Sasuke glared at the agility ladder, his legs shaking, anger and frustration building up inside him as he whirled around, deperate for something to take his anger out on. These stupid weights, these _stupid weights,_ he couldn't even destroy something so he could continue training…

"Dobe, have you gotten anything done yet?" Sasuke sneered. Of course, there was no response as Naruto bit his lip _hard_ but continued to write down another line of seals in Kanji. "Useless, huh? Can't improve at all, huh?"

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked, brows furrowed with concern as she peered up at Sasuke and Naruto from her chakra control.

"Shut up. You're useless, dobe. You should just go and quit the team, you're soon going to hold everyone back," Sasuke sneered. _This is wrong, this is wrong,_ a tiny voice in his head urged him, but the anger was taking over, numbing his mind. "I'm serious, dobe. I'm serious. I don't want to be held back by someone like you-"

"You're the one that just collapsed!" Naruto screamed at him, slamming down his brush and glaring at him.

"Well, at least I've accomplished _something!_ " Sasuke sneered back, a smirk on his face.

"Guys, stop!" Sakura urged them, but she was ignored.

"You're just a little privileged Uchiha," Naruto sneered. "Everyone knows you depend on the strength of your stupid _Sharingan_."

"What about that ball of chakra in your stomach? You get as much chakra as you want, while other _skilled_ people learn how to control how much they use," Sasuke retorted, standing upwards and glaring downward at Naruto from where he was crouching.

"Well, at least I have to pay for it! Getting beaten daily for four years is surely enough for that small privilege," Naruto bit back, standing up and glaring at Sasuke with blue eyes that held shadows of memories that he never, _never_ recalled.

"Well, you don't have to kill your best friend to get your ultimate power!" Sasuke shouted back.

"I'm probably killing lots of people anyway because of my 'ball of chakra!'" Naruto screamed back, standing up too, the red chakra around him whipping and thrashing as if enjoying the chaos, the hurt, the anger that built up inside him at the accusations thrown at him.

"Not your best friend!" Sasuke retorted.

"STOP!" Sakura yelled, but again, she was ignored.

"You're not enslaved to a sadistic demon!"

"You're not burdened with a curse that causes tragedy and horror everywhere!"

"You were born in a _privileged family,_ you understand _nothing_ about _real_ tragedy and horror."

"I HAD A FAMILY! THAT'S WHY IT HURT SO MUCH!"

"AT LEAST YOU HAD SOMEONE! I NEVER KNEW WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO HAVE SOMETHING!"

"YOU'VE NEVER LOST ANYTHING!"

"YOU'VE NEVER HAD NOTHING!"

Both of them were standing up, glaring at each other with hate and rage so uncharacteristic that even Sakura was stunned into silence.

"Fuck you," both you growled, Sasuke suddenly palming his tanto, his weights abandoned on the ground, Naruto's fist suddenly covered in flames.

"NARUTO!" Sasuke screamed.

"SASUKE!" Naruto also yelled. They ran at each other, tanto flashing with lightning and fists coated with flame, and then a pink blur flashed in between them and they were blasted away by a burst of chakra.

"Sakura! Don't interfere!" Naruto roared in frustration.

"STOP FIGHTING!" Sakura screamed.

"You." Sasuke growled, turning toward Sakura. "Stop interfering, you… whore…"

 _Whore…_

 _Whore…_

 _Whore…_

' _I WANTED A SON, NOT A FUCKING WHORE!'_

"What. Did. You. Just. Say." Sakura growled.

"Whore. WHORE!"

"Calm down, guys!" Naruto yelled, as Sakura's eyes widened.

"SHUT UP, DOBE! SASUKE'S RIGHT, YOU ARE USELESS!" Sakura yelled.

"What?"

"Ha, dobe, even Sakura agrees with you!"

"YOU AND SAKURA ARE BOTH FUCKERS!" Naruto screamed, looking betrayed, hurt, angry.

"Sakura's a whore, not a fucker," Sasuke scoffed. Sakura's eyes blazed with anger, and then she sprinted at Sasuke, who was glaring at Naruto, smirking, who was shaking his head slowly.

"I'm leaving. I'm leaving, before this gets worse," Naruto whispered. Slowly, painfully, he walked away, picking up the scrolls on the way out. Sakura stopped, staring at Sasuke, then Naruto, then walked away in the opposite direction.

 _What have I done?_

 _What have I done?_

 _What have I done?_

Sasuke's eyes widened as his anger faded, and he sank to his knees onto the dirt floor as the sun began to set. The golden orb of flames settled itself into a bed of clouds that were tinted all the colors of the rainbow: golden, scarlet, orange, pink, and even tinges of dull green. The sky was a canvas, covered in black at the edges, sprayed with a stunning combination of almost ethereal colors that slowly faded away into blackness.

With the light vanished from the sky, Sasuke felt himself begin to crumble and break inside.

Then, deep inside him, a flickering flame went out.

* * *

 **Sorry it was kinda short... hopefully, you agree with my explanation of Flying Raijin Jutsu.**

 **I wanna thank HappyGuest, or once, ImpressedGuest for his continued reviews and constructive criticism. Thank you!**

 **Oh, btw, do we have any Set It Off fans here?**


	10. Chapter 9

**I know a lot are you are probably hating the way this fanfiction, but as I write, I do not decide what the characters: the characters themselves actually decide what they do. A better explanation of this is that I NEVER plan my writing, instead, I just write: when I reach a point, my mind, or the characters, or perhaps just my (rather crappy) "writers sense" just told me what to do. So... Plz dont flame if you hate it!**

 **Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto...**

* * *

The Uchiha district was silent that night.

Each person in their seperate room, Naruto working on his formula with no results, Sakura crying silently into her pillow, and Sasuke staring blankly at the ceiling, they were all awake.

But they made no move toward each other.

Echoes of memories were devouring them as the night wore on, Naruto screaming into his pillow as, yet again, another formula failed, Sasuke finally drifting into a half-sleep from which he kept jerking awake from, haunted by memories of that night, Sakura sitting cross legged in her room practicing her chakra control with no results. Finally, as Sasuke emerged from his room with deep shadows under his eyes, he walked to the balcony with the idea of some fresh air in his mind, his eye spied a certain Sakura Haruno sitting on the balcony swinging chair, staring at the setting moon.

"I'm sorry…" He whispered. No response. Had she heard him? "I'm sorry," he begged, this time louder. No response. "Please, Sakura-chan…"

She jolted slightly with the suffix, -chan, attached to her name. That word. _Please_. When had it ever come from Sasuke's mouth, ever?

"Please…"

Slowly, she stood up, then turned around and met his eyes. Emerald crashed with ebony as they stared at each other, then slowly moved toward each other in a slow, almost drunken walk, stumbling in the cold of the night, icy night stars glittering in the inky sky as they moved closer, closer, _closer._

Suddenly, Sakura's foot caught on the uneven boards of the balcony, her breath coming out in a small "oh!" as she fell forward into Sasuke's arms. She looked up into his glittering eyes, and suddenly, before Sasuke had registered what he was doing, he lowered his head and their lips met in a collision of universes.

They had never kissed before, after all, they _were_ only twelve.

But when their lips met, delicate pink and firm dark, Sakura's lips molded into Sasuke's, meeting together as she let out a tiny moan as Sasuke's tongue flicked out and explored her mouth, then met with Sakura's and began a battle for dominance, wrestling and dancing as they pulled each other closer.

 _What was she doing?_

With a gasp, Sakura lurched backwards and shoved Sasuke away, but it was too late.

From inside the house, crashing footsteps sounded, and Sasuke looked up to the sight of a orange-clad Naruto running. Running away.

Only he could have seen the small drops of water melting into the wood. Tiny saltwater tears, for what he had lost. As Sasuke and Sakura stared at each other, rain began to fall from the gray sky.

What had they done?

* * *

 **Kakashi:**

What the _hell_ is the point of this mission?

And why the _hell_ was he being sent to investigate this tiny, miserable, rainy village?

And why the _hell_ were there these… _S-rank Ninja…_ coming and going from this _hellhole_ of a village?

There he was now. A hooded man, of which Kakashi had only glimpsed a hint of black black hair and black black eyes, pacing around and around a certain, unknown perimeter. The Hokage had told him, _investigate the Hidden in the Rain village for any information about the reported sightings of S-rank criminal ninja. Return in a week. Do not let your presence be known._

It was only day three, and Kakashi _hated_ this place.

Sighing, he shuushined away into his small camp outside of the village, leaving the unknown ninja to his work.

Standing in the rain, the man pushed back the hood and chuckled darkly.

 **Naruto:**

He should have known.

They were kissing, after calling him bad names and abandoning him. What had he expected? These relationships never worked out. How many times had people abandoned him like this, betrayed him, hurt him?

Way to many to name, actually.

He was leaving. Back to the streets. He was done, leaving he didn't care about Sasuke or Sakura.

Even after he had risked his life for them…

No. He shouldn't think. He should just leave. Leave. Leave. Run away, never fight back, run away just like he had with his attackers, just like he had always done.

When would it be time for him to fight back?

He did not know.

No one noticed when he climbed out of the window with a suitcase stuffed full of clothes, quills, ninja tools, and weapons.

* * *

 **Sasuke:**

"He's gone."

"No…" Sakura whispered, sinking to her knees, staring at the cold bed, covers rumpled and yanked back in normal "Naruto" fashion. "No… Naruto, come back… please…"

"He's gone," Sasuke stated again, the vision of the blonde-haired boy sitting on the bed briefly flashing before his eyes before fading away. Gone, gone forever, shattered, just like their lives long, long, ago, on that night where Fate brought them together just like Fate separated them now.

Alone.

Sasuke Uchiha would forever be alone.

* * *

 **The Next Day:**

 _Stupid._

 _Stupid, stupid, stupid,_ Naruto raged inside his mind, feeling so frustrated he would've torn up the scroll in his hands if not for the tiny, stupid, _stupid_ fire seal on the top corner. _STUPID!_

Tossing down the scroll, Naruto let out a guttural scream and glared at the page he was on, a complicated list of "basic" fuinjustu Space/Time seals, _none of which_ explained what that _stupid, stupid, STUPID_ seal on _stupid_ Fourth's formula. _Stupid, stupid, STUPID! Stupid jutsu, stupid seal, stupid formula-why can't Kakashi-sensei teach me some amazing taijutsu, like Sasuke's, or some new Wings of Gods technique?_

Another seal, another letter, another drawing.

Another scream of frustration.

Then, suddenly, with a flash of light, a piece of paper appeared on the ground next to him. On it was a single seal, a circle with six lines drawn inside it surrounding a smaller circle on the inside, six lines stretching from the outside of the circle, three on each opposite sides. Written on the edge of the paper was, in miniscule, impossibly neat handwriting, _Tobirama's Flying Raijin Jutsu Formula._

Looking at the paper, squinting slightly, Naruto shrugged before painstakingly copying down the formula to even the slightest curve, then staring at Minato's formula, head slightly tilted, eyes squinted.

With a swipe of his brush, the center of Tobirama's formula was copied onto the paper. However, instead of lines on the edges, Naruto copied down about half of Minato's formula on the top and then added his own to the bottom. A circle with six parts surrounding a smaller circle in the center, six lines of text branching from it.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto pressed his hand to the freshly dried ink, palm down, to the paper, memorizing every curve and line and kanji.

Praying to Kami for success, Naruto sucked in a breath and then pressed his finger to the kunai he drew slowly out of his pouch.

"YES!" He screamed, eyes pooling with tears of joy as the formula appeared in glowing letters around the handle of the kunai in subtle black letters. "IT WORKED, IT WORKED, IT WORKED!"

Staring at their Naruto fondly from the trees, Sasuke and Sakura decided the previous day dedicated entirely to finding the Second Hokage's Formula had been completely worth it.

* * *

 **Kakashi:**

 _Last day here, last day here…_ Kakashi repeated to himself, checking his list of S-rank Ninja that he had collected. _Kisame Hoshigaki, Deidara, Hidan, Unknown Cloaked Guy, etc…_

 _Damned rain,_ Kakashi complained to himself as he shook some water droplets free, then returned his attention to the hooded man pacing the perimeter.

Where was he?

Whirling around, Kakashi deflected a blow from the kunai with his glove guard, then snarled and pulled out his kunai, deflected the barrage of shruikan that rushed toward him as the cloaked man jumped backward, hood flying off, revealing black hair that fell to his chin, a handsomely narrow face, deep creases between his eyes, slashed Konoha headband proudly worn on his forehead. His eyes were…

No…

"Hello, Kakashi Hatake…"

"Itachi… Uchiha…" Kakashi breathed, fear sweeping over him in a wave of icy cold as he stared at Sasuke's brother.

Then, as he stared down Itachi, he felt, _sensed_ somebody behind him. The Clone in front of him vanished, and the last thing he saw was Itachi's spinning Mangekyou Sharingan before everything went black.

* * *

 **Naruto:**

 _Focus chakra at your feet until you feel it is solid enough to stand on water, then attempt to stand on water._

"Absolute bullshit… Stupid scroll!" Naruto complained, sounding both pissed and exhausted as he sat down, his pant legs sodden and dripping with water, staring at the rippling water as he frowned and than glared at his feet. _Focus chakra to my feet, indeed._

Turning around, Naruto smashed his fist into the nearest tree, a hole appearing in the wood, splinters burying into Naruto's fist as he yelled with anger.

"Naruto?" A deep, masculine voice asked.

"Huh?" Turning around, Naruto looked upwards and then grinned. "Hey, Asuma-sensei!"

However, Asuma was not smiling. His face was grim, his eyes hard, his mouth set in a firm line.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Come with me to the Hokage Tower… he has some news for you."

 _Huh?_

Following Asuma as he jumped from building to building, steps light and nimble, Naruto wondered at what he had been convicted of this time. He hadn't graffitied anything lately, unless you counted the statue of the Third Hokage in the Academy, but that was ages ago…

Going over every moment in the last six months, Naruto frowned as he followed Asuma through the window. Instantly, the moment he saw Sakura and Sasuke, his face became stone-like, withdrawn.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura…" The Third Hokage started, then stopped, an arrested look on his face.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura," he began again, "I'm really sorry that this news was delivered this way." Sighing, he stopped again, then rubbed his eyes, looking weary and tired. "Your sensei, Kakashi, is being held hostage… and we don't know where…"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" Naruto asked, his eyes immediately filling with concern, surprise, and anger as he smashed his fist against the nearest wall and shook his head, dumbstruck, as if denying the truth. "Kakashi-sensei? Kakashi-sensei? Held hostage? Haha, very funny. What actually happened?"

"It's not a joke, Naruto… Kakashi Hatake has been captured and is now being held hostage by a group of collected S-rank nin that gathered in Hidden in the Rain, in an unknown location," Sarutobi told him again.

"No…" Sakura whispered, mouthing words soundlessly and shaking her head in denial. "No, you're kidding…"

"I'm not. Your sensei is being held hostage," Sarutobi repeated. "I know this is hard for you, but you're not permitted to go and rescue him: you are no match for these S-rank ninja, among which are the most feared ninja in the nations."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, WE CAN'T GO RESCUE HIM? HE'S OUR SENSEI!" Naruto exploded, anger shining in his usually benign cerulean eyes.

"I agree for once with the dobe… we should go save Kakashi-sensei…" Sasuke agreed, causing a look of surprise to be shot at him from all directions.

"Stay out of this, teme," Naruto spat, then turned back to the Third Hokage. "Hokage-jiji, you wouldn't deny us the right of saving our own sensei! We have to at least try!"

"Naruto-kun," Sarutobi began, then sighed. "Naruto, I've already enlisted the help of Jiraiya-sama, the Legendary Toad Sage… he will be plenty enough to deal with these S-rank."

"No! I wanna go too! We should be able to go and rescue our own sensei!" Naruto argued. The Hokage refused, and as Sasuke and Sakura silently egged Naruto on, the argument lasted for several minutes before Naruto finally turned around, anger wrought on his face as the chakra around him violently whirling in circles, angrily stomping out of the Hokage Tower, raging down the stairs, and out of sight. Stunned by the display of blatant rage, Sakura and Sasuke glanced at each other, then, without a word to the Hokage, exited the Hokage Tower.

They found Naruto, with fifty nine clones, outside of the Uchiha Manor, attempting water walking unsuccessfully. Another twenty Naruto's were inside his Fuinjutsu Study Room, fast-speed producing more simple seals and intricately drawing extremely advanced seals. Two Naruto's were in the village, buying a new supply of Soldier Pills, Chakra Pills, rations, and Ninja Tools, among some other small nothings he would use on the trip.

"What are you doing, Naruto?" Sasuke asked one of the clones. The clone, without looking up from his intricate seal, replied with a voice filled with anger.

"Preparing."

"Preparing for what?" Sasuke asked, brows furrowed.

"To get Kakashi-sensei back."

"Naruto, you realize, they're S-rank ninja-"

"And I'm Kakashi's student. I can follow Jiraiya-sama, then get Kakashi out when Jiraiya-sama is following them."

"Naruto-"

"Listen, _teme_ ," Naruto interrupted, the word _teme_ harsh and spat out. "If you don't want to value your comrades, I understand. But I'm not like you."

 _I'm not like you…_

 _I'm not like you…_

With shame in his heart, Sasuke realized that he hadn't even thought of sneaking out in the middle of the night to rescue Kakashi. As he watched, seals piled up beside a seemingly leader, a clone stepped forward with a white wristband covered in seals, bought from a shop. With a puff of smoke, the enormous pile of seals vanished into the Time-Space storage. After the two clones returned with all their boughten objects, the vanished into the twin wristband on the left hand, smoothly fit over the red Kyuubi arm. There were Barrier Seals, creating barriers of chakra, Healing Seals, lots of Explosive Tags, and Freezing Seals. There were enormous shurikens, swords, seemingly double-bladed kunai, and the normal smoke bombs.

"If you're going," Sakura's voice rang from the doorway, directed at Naruto. "I'm going too."

"Even if teme doesn't go?" Naruto asked, a slight bit of hurt in his voice even as his face hardened.

"Even if Sasuke doesn't go. I swear," Sakura added, as Naruto lifted an eyebrow. Her room was unusually scattered and messy, items carried by both fighters and medical ninja: bandages, antiseptic cream, a needle and thread, presumably for stitches, a abundance of kunai and explosive tags, and a few different types of shuriken. Her backpack, half filled with neatly packed clothes-

 _Shit, clothes. Where do I put those… I want to travel light, and that's what I usually do… usually, unless it's a small mission, and this is definitely not a small mission…_

Taking the smallest backpack he could find, Naruto stuffed in three changes of clothes, then sighed as he shut his backpack, filling his water bottle and stuffing into the seal on his right arm. Vanishing all of his clones, Naruto clenched a small piece of paper in his hand containing his formula, then formed a single Clone.

"Act like me. Go with Sakura and Sasuke tonight. Vanish once you're outside enough of the village."

The Clone nodded dumbly.

So, no one noticed when Naruto climbed out of his window and stole into the streets. No one noticed when he lingered beside the window, waiting for dusk when he snuck out twenty minutes after a certain Jiraiya, stealthy as a panther, his eyes fixed on Jiraiya as he stole through the forests, a fox stalking prey. No one noticed that Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were gone until two days later, when their replacement Clones vanished. By the time searchers were sent out, their trails had been erased by rain, natural or controlled by Naruto.

No one noticed Naruto, the shadow, except for Jiraiya.

* * *

 **Kakashi:**

The pain was never ending.

"Tell me everything you know about Jinchuriki, especially Naruto Uzumaki…"

His throat was too ravaged from screaming to say anything.

The man with bluish skin and gills smiled at his hateful glare, then dragged his serrated blade down his chest once again, from one side to the other, blood blooming where knife cut, pain, pain, _pain_ tearing through him as he screamed, his voice hoarse and broken. His mask, torn into shreds, hung from his face as the blade stopped, then withdrew, leaving him hanging from the ceiling, panting. His chest was bare, his legs covered by slashed and barely covering pants, blood _everywhere._ On his face, running in rivets down his chest, dried and fresh in his silver hair, which was hanging limp, dull and not even defying gravity. Half of the flesh on his left upper arm was burned away, his right leg hanging limp and useless, his body still jerking occasionally with the painful poison he had been forced to down. A huge patch bruises dotted his back, at least four ribs cracked, his feet pierces with shards of glass.

"Itachi?" the man called.

"Are you still having trouble with that man? Have you tried everything?" Itachi's hateful voice rang from the corner of the dark room.

 _Oh, yes, he had. Poison, corrosive substances, Genjutsu, knives, bruises, crushing bones, glass…_

 _What was next?_

"Hm, will we have to go sexual?" Kisame asked, turning back to Itachi and smiling malistically.

"Well…" Itachi mused. "Have you tried drowning yet?"

"Yep."

"Genjutsu?"

"Yup."

"Are his teeth still there?" Itachi asked.

"Itachi! You know as well as I do that if he can withstand against corrosive substances, he can definitely resist his teeth being pulled out…"

"Well then… I'll just have to go with _Tsukuyomi…_ "

"Itachi? You do realize-"

"Let me try…" Itachi smiled up at Kakashi with malice in his eys. "This… this can break him…"

The night was silent, as if even the beasts and birds were praying for Kakashi, as his screams ripped through the shadows.

* * *

 **Jiraiya:**

Whoever was following really should stop.

Really, really, really should stop.

He was about three seconds away from blowing the fuse.

Three…

Two…

One…

Whirling around, six kunai flew from his fingers. With a burst of red chakra, all of them were effortlessly blocked, before Naruto flicked through six hand signs and sent a fireball at Jiraiya, who blocked it with a wall of water. From his left wristband Naruto summoned a line of explosion tags, which he wrapped around a pair of Demon Wind Shuriken that he threw at Jiraiya, who dodged and then smirked up at the boy, who, with the strings connected to the shuriken, pulled it back so that Jiraiya barely dodged it's sharp, glimmering blades. Naruto placed two fingers to his lips, staring intently at the explosive tags, which vanished in thin air. Expecting an explosion, Jiraiya wrapped his hair around him, but after ten seconds, after the explosion _didn't_ happen, his hair slowly retracted and he smirked at the boy.

"Dud tags?" Jiraiya asked, a taunting tone in his voice.

 _Boom!_

Jiraiya whirled around, then disappeared in the smoke as the forest shook in a huge explosion.

"Timed tags," Naruto said into the air. "I know you didn't get hit, you can come out of there," he continued, pointing at the nearest tree.

"Who are you?" Jiraiya asked, his voice infused with a slight bit of curiosity as he dropped down from the tree and stared at Naruto.

"Naruto Uzumaki, Number One Knucklehead Ninja of Konoha!" Naruto announced quite proudly.

"Why are you here?" Jiraiya asked, even as he recognized with a hidden jolt the name of his former student's son.

"To rescue Kakashi-sensei."

Jiraiya's eyes widened, and then he shot forward like a bullet, hand crashing down on Naruto's head, causing him to collapse to the floor like a stone.

"I'm sorry, but you don't want to go where I'm going, especially as the Kyuubi Container…" Jiraiya whispered, turning around and leaving Naruto unconscious on the ground for the village to find.

Or so he thought.

Even Jiraiya didn't notice the shadow trailing him from fifty feet away, a red fox eye seeing further then any human pupil, a black shadow among the towering trees, a midnight black Kitsune.

* * *

 **DON'T BLAME ME  
**

 **DISCLAIMER: NARUTO DIDN'T DEFEAT JIRAIYA. NARUTO TRICKED JIRAIYA.**

 **As you might know from Shattered Glass, I LOVE Kakashi, and, admit it, writing a torture scene of your favorite character is SO FUN!**

 **Maybe I'm just morbid.**

 **Actually, I am, as you guys all should know if you follow my other stories. Haha...?**

 **Hope you enjoyed! Please Review!**

 **Oh, I wanted to thank moonlightpale for her sudden stream of reviews! Thank you!**

 **I lost HappyGuest...**

 **:(**


	11. Chapter 10

**I'm sooooo sorry I haven't posted in so long! I wanted to focus on the book I was writing for a month, and that's what I did (I wrote seventy pages!). I'm really sorry! Honestly! I probably have no viewers now who have seen the past chapters but I'm still sorry! I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

 **Sasuke and Sakura:**

"Naruto?" Sasuke and Sakura asked, their brows furrowed with concern as they woke up that chilly morning and then immediately noticed the absence of the orange-clad, yellow-haired boy.

"He got away," Sasuke murmured, lips pursed, frowning as he stared down at the empty bedroll and the absence of their comrade.

"Was he even here in the first place? Was it a Clone?" Sakura asked, raking her hands through her pink hair in frustration and then sighing.

"I think he needs a bit more time. Let's just… keep going, to Amegakure…"

 **Kakashi:**

 _Not again, not again, please-_

"Tsukuyomi!" Itachi's voice pierced through his mind, the Mangekyou Sharingan swirling, whirling, then-

"You already know the rules…" Kakashi looked around desperately, thrashing as he attempted to free himself from the cross he was strapped to, then fell still as Itachi suddenly appeared, an evil smile on his face, and then-

"Trust me… trust me… be sure to trust me…"

 _Trust you? Why would I trust you?_ Kakashi thought, knowing Itachi could hear him, his throat too ravaged to speak. Itachi tilted his head, then reached upward and untied the headband around his head, the Konoha symbol slashed in half with his kunai.

Underneath it, a piece of paper that fluttered to the ground, forcing Itachi to bend down and pick it up, then unfold it and hold in front of Kakashi's eyes.

Printed on it, the picture of kid Sasuke, smiling and hugging Itachi as they both smiled at the picture taker.

"You… you… you've always…" Kakashi whispered.

"I can't help you here."

The words floated away as Kakashi's body jerked to the side, a mewl of pain escaping his mouth, senbon buried in his stomach.

"But trust me…"

His throat ached, and Kakashi tasted blood from his raw throat.

When he woke up from that bout, he still didn't know whether that had been real or whether he was going insane. Itachi Uchiha, _Itachi Uchiha,_ who had slaughtered his entire family for the _fun_ of it-

No.

He must be going insane.

 **Two Days Later:**

 _We're almost there,_ Jiraiya thought, stretching his neck and shoulders as he stared up at the sky, rolling his arms, then tilting his head upwards, squinting his eyes, staring at the tiny little dot in the distance, grey and gloomy. _Amegakure._

 _I wonder how Kakashi is holding up… these ninja he was caught by, they seem to be worse then your usual criminals, for them to have caught Kakashi Hatake on a stealth mission._

Leaping from one branch to another like a cheetah sprinting through the woods, Jiraiya paused, withdrawing a leather bag of water from his pack and taking a long sip from the leather bag and then sighing.

 _Almost there…_

 _Almost there, before we can rescue Kakashi…_

 _Has he already broken?_

 _No._

Jiraiya shoved the water bag into his pocket and then sprinted toward the village, noticing the clouds in the sky, slowly turning from white to grey to stormy black, until the air was coated in fog. Slowing to a hesitant walk, Jiraiya's head tilted as he looked around him, then at the sheet of rain that suddenly appeared out of nowhere as he neared the village, which was small and decrepit.

"A sheet of rain used to detect visitors using the chakra laced through it…" Jiraiya murmured, then frowned and then summoned a frog. As Naruto watched, a wince on his face, Jiraiya was swallowed by the frog, who then hopped through the rain sheet casually, occasionally flicking out a tongue toward flies or bugs.

 _Now… how to get past the rain chakra thing, then?_ Naruto asked, watching Jiraiya disappear in the frog. Frowning, he reached into the small pouch on his side that held seals and then rummaged inside it, before taking out a small blue scroll.

"Seal!" Naruto cried, placing the seal about two inches away from the rain and then summoning the seal. From the seal arose a wall, a _barrier_ of chakra that seemed to suck up the rain and then release it again from the other side.

"This should do the trick… chakra absorbing seal, bought from the Black Market where an old lady somehow got it from Suna…" Naruto whispered, then walked through the rain into Amegakure.

The rain was thick and heavy even beyond the veil of water, and Naruto immediately knew that he would hate this place.

 **Sakura and Sasuke:**

"Here!" Sasuke finally yelled, a triumphant smirk crossing his face as he pointed at the next piece of the trail he had discovered. A snapped twig, broken not under age but through force, as seen by the diagonal way it had snapped.

"I don't think we need to track them anymore," Sakura replied, pointing in the distance. The trees were thinning, and in the distance, there was a tiny gray dot. "Amegakure is right there."

As they stood, staring at the dot, a small gleam of light shone distantly from the center of the village, followed by two puffs of smoke.

"Is that a battle?" Sakura asked, her face filled with fear.

"Let's go," Sasuke hissed, sprinting toward the dot, urgency painted on his face. "Jiraiya-sama is probably fighting the S-rank ninjas, if we hurry, we might be able to make it in time for Jiraiya to distract them while we save Kakashi-sensei."

 **Jiraiya:**

"Well, well, well," a voice sneered from behind him. Whirling around just as the Jiraiya tilted his head and stared at the shark-like man as he spoke, voice deep and grating. "What do we have here, Toad Sage?"

Turning around, Jiraiya stared him straight in the eye with yellow eyes that held black pupils, straight and completely unwavering, his hands slightly webbed, two extremely old frogs sitting on his shoulder.

"It's unlucky that only you, me, and Tobi can fight this man… it leaves your little Kakashi unguarded, doesn't it, Itachi on that mission?" A man with a blond ponytail and eyes of piercing blue commented, stepping besides the shark man and smiling sadistically.

 _Itachi._

Naruto felt a surge of hatred for that name as soon as he heard it. _Not now, not now,_ he told himself. _Kakashi-sensei is more important._

"Senpai, senpai, what's happening-" Said a third man, his face covered by a orange mask with only one eye hole, before he stopped and stared at the intruder. "Is there an invasion?"

In response, Kisame shouldered the Samehada, stolen from Fuguki two days after he had died. A shark like smile spread across his face as Samehada twitched and then lay still. Deidara reached into the bags at his side, revealing two large birds of clay as he also smiled at Jiraiya.

So Jiraiya moved.

With speed too fast for human eye to track, deflecting Deidara's clay bombs with two arcs of fire as he lunged toward Tobi, Jiraiya withdrew his kunai in one smooth motion and then sliced through Tobi's right side. With a groan and then a thud, Tobi fell to the ground, laying there like a stone.

"One down, two to go," Jiraiya commented, smiling and then forming hand signs. Before he could finish, though, two more clay bombs were flying at Jiraiya, just as the Samehada, the bandages unwrapped from it's black body, snarled and tore toward Jiraiya.

"Easy," Jiraiya muttered, then ducked under the sword and launched himself out of the range of the explosion. Then, as he whirled around, Tobi suddenly appeared from midair, slashing downward with his kunai, a whispering glimmer of metal in the air.

"What? I-I killed you!" Jiraiya exclaimed, ducking underneath the blow and then aiming his fist at Tobi's stomach. Instead of hitting flesh, however, his fist passed through _nothing_ as Jiraiya leapt backwards, staring at the three S-ranked ninja in amazement, head tilted, then formed six hand signs.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" **(Summoning Jutsu)** He yelled, biting his thumb and then slapping his hand to to ground. Only Tobi seemed to notice as the toads from his _shoulders_ disappeared as an enormous, red toad, right hand grasping an enormous dosu blade, an enormous kiseru pipe clenched between his teeth.

"These punks, huh, boss?" Gamabunta asked, narrowing his eyes at the three S-rank, who stared back up, unconcerned.

"Yeah. Listen," Jiraiya muttered, then whispered a few words into Gamabunta's ear. Nodding, Gamabunta turned back to Deidara, Kisame, and Tobi.

"Art…" Deidara started, his hands withdrawing from the pouch they were buried in and then pointing, not upward, but toward the ground. "Art… art is an explosion!"

As Jiraiya watched in curiosity and slight amazement, the clay that poured onto the ground began to bubble and then morph, morph into a dragon that slowly outstretched it's wings, then stood up on feet of pure white.

"Is… is that entire thing explosive?" Jiraiya asked, his eyes wide, staring up at the enormous white dragon that was almost as big as Gamabunta as Deidara leapt upon it, smiling widely as he clapped his hands together. The dragon soared into the sky, and Jiraiya leapt forward, fire bursting from his lips that Deidara easily avoided, turning back and looking toward a point behind Jiraiya.

"Have you got the mines down, Tobi?" Deidara asked, impatience coating his voice. Turning away, Jiraiya stood stock still, waiting for his Sage Mode to return as Tobi and Deidara conversed.

"Jiraiya!" Gamabunta yelled, jumping backward Jiraiya looked up, the rings forming back around his eyes as he glanced up and swore. A segment of the dragon's tail had disappeared, replaced by a smaller clay dragon that dove downward at Gamabunta, who jumped away.

"Art… is an explosion!" Deidara yelled as Gamabunta landed on the ground, only for it to blow up with the large quantity of mines that had been set there. "This was easier than I thought… the assaults from the air would only be avoided by going elsewhere on the ground, causing the mines on them to blow up, to explode, to perform art…

"Doton: Yomi Numa!" **(Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld)** Jiraiya's voice yelled. Deidara stopped, as the smoke cleared, revealing Gamabunta and Jiraiya sitting in a red-brown swamp that had devoured about thirty feet of the ground around him and was still growing, devouring the open ground around him even as the rain continued to fall. "The mines have no effect now. I can go wherever I wish, as long as the ground is covered by my swamp," he sneered, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Behind you," Deidara prompted. Despite himself, Jiraiya turned around and then ducked the blow from Samehada, who outstretched, flailing teeth clamping onto Jiraiya's arm.

"Crap!" Jiraiya yelled, yanking away his arm hurriedly and then jumping away from the next attack. At this point, Gamabunta's large webbed hand shot out and brushed off Kisame, who fell to the ground, unharmed. Looking down at his arm, Jiraiya surveyed it with distaste, skin shredded and flesh torn, blood soaking into the sleeve of his ripped shirt.

"Jiraiya-kun, let us…" Fukasaku started. Jiraiya nodded briefly, then formed six hand signs for Fireball Jutsu and took a breath.

"You do realize we're sixty feet away, so that won't reach us…" Deidara commented. Jiraiya paused, tilting his head, as if considering that statement.

"Do you have the oil?" Jiraiya whispered to Gamabunta, who nodded, a barely perceptible bob of the head. Now!" Jiraiya hissed at Gamabunta.. "Katon: Gamayu Endan!" **(Fire Release: Toad Flame Bomb)**

With a hiss, fire shot out of Jiraiya's mouth, not toward the dragon but down.

Down, toward the spray of oil that shot from Gamabunta's mouth. As crackling filled the air, an enormous fireball that burned all in it's destructive. With a shout, Deidara jumped off the enormous dragon, away from the explosion that ensued.

As plumes of gray smoke filled the air, causing even the battle-hardened Kisame to start hacking and coughing, no one noticed when a thin figure slipped into the open door of the hideout behind them.

 **Naruto:**

The caves that he had slipped into were midnight black, lit up only by dim blue lanterns.

There should be no one here.

A small organization, this obviously was, filled with a few powerful nin that could probably take on the Hokage, together, and survive.

But, as that man had said, so confident of Jiraiya being the only one who had come to rescue Kakashi-sensei, there was supposed to be no one there.

Perfect.

Following the scent of blood and iron downwards, downwards, _downwards_ into what was undoubtedly the dungeons, Naruto prepared himself to rescue his sensei.

 **Kakashi:**

 _Boom._

He was jerked awake painfully by an enormous crash from outside the hideout.

After three "weeks," or perhaps merely three hours of Tsukuyomi, Itachi seemingly completely gave up the mental path and retreated back to physical torture. Blood was _everywhere._ Crusted on his dull, limp silver hair, smeared in dried splatters across his chest.

It had almost felt like good old Anbu days. He had had worse than this… but at the hands of someone who had once trained under him…

Now that Itachi was on a mission, however, Kakashi had been left alone for three days. Three whole days, in which he hung from the ceiling in complete darkness.

He could only shake those thoughts away as another explosion that shook the ground. _Who…_

 _Who came?_

With the unpierceable darkness around him, Kakashi could only hang from the ceiling, listening to the sounds of battle from outside for about five minutes, five, long, _agonizing_ minutes that were spent waiting for that person, whoever they were, to either kill them or get killed.

Then, the door cracked open.

Instead of the tall, looming shadow of Itachi Uchiha, the figure that stood against the tiny crack of light was small, a kid.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

 **Sasuke and Sakura:**

"Holy hell… what happened?" Sakura shouted as an explosion that she could hear even from the other side of the village. There were shouts of surprise and anger before smoke suddenly plumed over the village. Meanwhile, Sakura and Sasuke were sprinting toward where the explosion was.

What they saw blew their minds.

Jiraiya the Toad Sage battling Kisame Hogakishi while two frogs behind him built up, as Sasuke explained in a hushed undertone as he activated his Sharingan, a sort of Genjutsu that depended on _sound_. Explosions, _huge_ ones that sucked and unimaginably large amount of chakra, were exploding casually everywhere.

This, they thought, was true power.

They were but a whisper of a shadow when they slinked into the open doorway into the dark caves.

When they were inside, the path they followed was of one that smelled of iron and blood and screams.

 **Kakashi:**

"Naruto?" He asked, his voice hoarse.

"Kakashi-sensei! W-w-what did they do to you?"

Rage, so much rage, was in his voice.

"I'm fine, Naruto."

"Sensei-"

Kakashi's body visibly stiffened as soon as Naruto spoke. Not from pain, not from discomfort, but from fear.

"Get out of here, Naruto."

"Never! Not without you!" Naruto protested, already headed toward Kakashi, already reaching upward, trying to unlatch the chains around his wrists.

"Naruto, get out of here!'

"No!'

" _Get out of here!"_ Kakashi yelled, as loudly as he dared, as he could.

"Too late…"

The midnight caress in that voice, _that voice_ , caused Naruto to shiver in fear. Turning around, Naruto's eyes widened as he looked into the eyes of the voice.

Itachi Uchiha was standing in the doorway, silhouetted against the door like a newborn god, scarlet eyes shining in the darkness as he gazed down at Naruto with the judgement of a demon.

"You…" Naruto breathed, fear, fear, _fear_ that he would _never_ usually fear in his voice. "You…"

"Me…" Itachi breathed, a caress of death in his voice.

"Naruto! Dodge!" Kakashi screamed as Itachi _vanished_ into midair.

Too late.

There was nothing either one of them could do as a blade crusted with already dried blood plunged toward Naruto's heart.

* * *

 **Cliffhanger, lmao!**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Please review!**


	12. Chapter 11

**Wow, it's been a while. This chapter was written a long time ago, and I decided to release it for those few people who still want it. I'm still not sure if I will continue the story.**

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Blood red eyes scanned the grounds, and Sasuke swore.

"My brother has been here. I, _we_ , can kill him."

"Sasuke, the priority right now is getting Kakashi-sensei out."

"I know, but we can take this chance to _kill my brother_!"

"Enough, Sasuke! Let's go!"

They sprinted along the path, following the trail that Itachi Uchiha must have just made two seconds ago, heading toward an open door from which they could see only blackness. A tall figure stood there, dressed in a black robe embroidered with red and white clouds, a figure that remained only for a second before vanishing.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" Sasuke urged himself. Diving into the room, Sasuke saw with wide Sharingan his brother reappearing into existance, a kunai raised, ready to plunge into Naruto, Naruto, _Naruto_ 's heart. He saw Kakashi, covered in blood and cuts and bruises and burns, screaming at the top of his lungs for Naruto to run. He saw Naruto, staring at the blade as it rose and then fell.

His body moved on it's own.

As the blade fell, there was a _thunk_ and then a spray of blood. Everything came to a halt: Kakashi fell silent, Sakura collapsed to her knees, Itachi was staring impassively down at the sight before him, and Naruto was staring at Sasuke Uchiha.

A kunai was buried in his chest.

Blood pooled out, scarlet that colored his black clothes dark ruby.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed.

"W-why?" Naruto whispered, dropping to his knees and catching Sasuke as he began to sway, blood dripping from his sodden clothes.

"I… I don't know… my body… just… moved… on it's own…" Sasuke murmured, chest heaving as he coughed out blood. Pressing a hand desperately to Sasuke's chest, attempting to staunch the bleeding, Naruto's hand shook as it withdrew a scroll, then tossed it away and withdrew a golden scroll filled with text.

"Naruto, what are you-" Sakura asked.

"Goddamn it, goddamn it, goddamn it, I should have made another healing scroll… I'm so stupid," Naruto cursed himself. "Teme, do not die, or I'll go to hell and beat you up!"

But besides for another rasping breath, Sasuke did not reply.

"Naruto, don't yank out the kunai-"

Naruto yanked out the kunai, the blood beginning now to spurt in huge waves even as Naruto slapped the golden scroll over Sasuke's chest and began wrapping it in circled around his body. Placing his hands together, he shut his eyes in concentration.

Slowly, the seal began to glow.

The blood on Sasuke's body began to vanish, melting away, the blood flow from Sasuke's wound slowly, slowly, _too slowly,_ stopping. Sasuke's face was ghastly white, and Naruto slowly placed a shaking hand on his neck. _Please, please, please!_

Nothing.

No beat.

Nothing.

"Sasuke, wake the fuck up!" Naruto screamed, starting chest compressions desperately as Sakura turned to Itachi, wrath in her emerald green eyes. "Wake the fuck up!"

Nothing,

"SASUKE UCHIHA! WAKE THE FUCK UP!" Naruto roared, tears began to roll down his face as he desperately continued the chest compressions.

"Dobe, stop… you're hurting my chest…"

Sakura exploded into sobs as Naruto exhaled a shaky breath.

"I thought you were dead…"

"I was, but your shouting brought the First Hokage back from the dead, so I decided to come along."

A chuckle from above.

The three looked up at Itachi Uchiha, who tilted his head as his younger brother even as he summoned four shuriken into his fingers. They flew at Sasuke's prone body, but Naruto nimbly darted between them, flicking them away with a kunai that he threw at Itachi, who vanished and then appeared behind Naruto, striking at him with a blow that he barely dodged. The next punch caught Naruto in the chest, causing him to fly back, crashing into the wall so hard that it cracked. Slumping to the ground, Naruto was still for a split-second before pushing himself up, panting slightly and clutching his chest.

"We have to do this together," Sasuke muttered, pushing himself up to his feet and swaying slightly. Sakura stood up from where she had been healing Sasuke, green energy flashing even as Sasuke waved her away.

"Yeah," Sakura muttered, placing her hands together and weaving her signs. Sasuke drew his swords, his Tanto, which lit up with bright blue lightning. With a sigh of relief, he unlatched the weights from his feet, which fell to the ground with a loud _thunk._ Naruto formed a single hand sign with is right hand, his left hand hanging about awkwardly until he dropped it by his side to where his kunai, wrapped with his Flying Rajin Jutsu Formula, were strapped. _A last resort,_ he told himself. _You haven't even tried it yet. This can only be a last resort._

" **Yōso no Kami: Hajimari!** " Naruto yelled.

" **Cero!** " Sakura yelled, at the same time.

" **Sharingan!"** Sasuke exclaimed, refilling his chakra from Naruto's-the Kyuubi's-storage as his blood red eyes lit up, two tomoe spinning rapidly as he glared with soul-deep hatred at Itachi.

Pushing away the fear Naruto felt as Itachi stared down at them, unimpressed, Naruto sprouted his wings, the red chakra mixing with the chakra of the five elements until he was almost like an Elemental Kyuubi.

"Let's do this," Naruto growled.

And they attacked.

 **Kakashi:**

They were no match for Itachi alone.

But together, they might have enough time to hold off Itachi until Jiraiya came… they moved as one, attacked as one, lunging forward when one was in danger to protect, constantly on the defense, but holding up. Sasuke was nimble, agile, his fighting style changed by the weights and exercises, dodging in between attacks and then striking quickly. Sakura was the same, but her Cero was _better:_ smoother, faster, holding up even after Itachi struck it half-a-dozen times. Naruto was truly an Elemental God, bursts of elements flashing from his fingers that were laced with red Kyuubi Chakra, often disappearing before making contact with walls or even Kakashi himself as Itachi fluidly dodged.

Itachi, however, seemed to be holding back.

Where was the Tsukuyomi? Where was his _skill_ , where was his power?

Naruto weaved below Itachi and Sasuke's dueling arms, fingers, five red and five normal, flying into signs to launch a storm of black lightning at Itachi, who flashed away, the Jutsu crashing into the wall opposite Kakashi with a loud _crack._

And, just as suddenly as the room around them began to collapse, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto stood stock still as Itachi pointed at each one of them, one by one, in turn.

 _Genjutsu? Induced by a… finger?_

There was no movement, nothing, as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura began to scream.

 **Naruto:**

"You've failed…" Itachi sneered, standing up and lowering his kunai, impassively glancing at the bloodsoaked Sakura and Sasuke as they collapsed to the ground, throats cut. Kakashi-sensei was hanging from his chains, a kunai stabbed through his chest as his eyes dimmed, as his precious people slowly faded before his vision. Naruto's jutsu faded as he stared at Sakura's lids slowly fall, covering her emerald green eyes forever.

"Did you really think you could protect them from me?" Itachi asked, a sneer on his face as he plunged a blade through Sakura's heart. She spluttered, blood spewing from her lips in crimson waves, before her eyes went dark. Sasuke lay on the ground, twitching slightly, his left arm bent at odd angles and his chest still. "Did you really think so? Too bad - they're both dead. They could've been good warriors, too. I think I'll leave you alive for the Akatsuki to find and use. It'd be more painful for you than death."

Naruto watched in silent agony, unable to speak, to move, as he watched his precious people die.

 **Sakura:**

"Your father is back and looking for revenge, little girl. I'm giving you to him. Why not? It would be entertaining to watch," Itachi's voice sneered. Sakura's breaths rasped in her throat as she began hypervenilating. Her arms were tied behind her as she sat in the cage Itachi had shoved her into, watching Itachi flick a kunai between his fingers. The same kunai that was stained with dried blood, the same kunai that had plunged into Naruto and Sasuke's hearts.

"Ah, he's here." Just as he said those words, a shadow appeared on the wall, and Sakura's breaths quickened and she began to wrestle against her bonds as her father appeared in the doorway.

"You have her?" he asked, his hateful voice filling up the room. From his pocket he took a large pouch of coins that he threw at Itachi, who caught it gracefully and motioned toward the cage.

"No… no… please… Itachi-san… mercy!"

But there was no one to stop her father from taking her away, because no one cared.

Or, those who had cared were dead.

 **Sasuke:**

The blade plunged into his mother's heart again and again and again as Sasuke screamed and fought. His brother, his hateful brother, stopped and stared at him with a wicked smile.

"Aren't you enjoying this, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke glared at him, a hateful gaze that even Itachi seemed to flinch under. Then, his mother and father turned into -

"No," he whispered, his voice cracking as he stared into Naruto and Sakura's eyes. Itachi smiled at him, a slash of white against sudden, startling darkness, and the his blade plunged toward Sakura's heart.

"No," he whispered, as Sakura slumped to the ground. "No. Don't. Don't, _brother._ Don't, please."

Naruto gurgled blood as slumped to the floor. Itachi smiled.

"You… you bastard…"

Silence.

"I REFUSE!" Sasuke screamed, and his body wrenched as he broke free of the invisible bondings that chained him down. Broke free of the Genjutsu - the Genjutsu. A look of pure shook crossed Itachi's and Kakashi's faces as Sasuke stood up, kunai in hand, and launched himself at Itachi with primal rage. His hands flashed with hand signs and his swords lit up with lightning, and he advanced toward Itachi, a whirlwind of electricity and hate.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH! YOU - YOU -"

Itachi turned around, only to meet a blast of fire from Naruto's shaking fingers. The Genjutsu had fallen, and Sakura stood up slowly, shaking with fear and anger as her Cero activated once more.

"Enough playing," Itachi sneered, flickering away.

"Where-"

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Naruto screamed, lunging toward Kakashi's chained body as Itachi appeared in front of Kakashi, kunai raised toward his heart. "NO!"

"NARUTO, GET AWAY!" Kakashi screamed as Naruto dived in front of Kakashi's helpless body.

"NARUTO!" Sakura screamed.

There was a moment when time - everything - seemed to stop. Itachi's kunai sailed toward Naruto, who shielded Kakashi with his body. Kakashi had tears coming out of his eye, and Sakura's mouth was open in a scream.

And then, with a huge crash, a white-haired man with a long cascading mane down his back plunged a kunai into Itachi's back.

"Jiraiya-sama!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"You kids - how did you even get here and follow me? How - never mind, just get behind me."

But when they looked toward the moment Itachi once stood, there was only a single crow that dissolved into the night mist.

 **Jiraiya:**

His mind was a whirl of confusion as Jiraiya watched the three kids sitting in a circle around the campfire, which lit eerie shadows in the forest around them. The pink-haired banshee had healed their wounds, even a few of Kakashi's larger wounds, and they were now gnawing on the meat they had scavenged from - somewhere. But who were they? The blond idiot was definitely Minato's son, the emo duck obviously the last Uchiha, and the banshee - well, he had no idea who she was. But how were they together? And their teamwork - flawless. Beautiful. Kakashi was their _sensei_? Kakashi had _passed_ a group of kids?

 _Moreover, how did Uzumaki follow me without being noticed? And how did the Uchiha and banshee know where the Rain Village was?_

He watched as they laughed together, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they had just nearly died. As if… as if…

"Kakashi. How many times have these kids had their lives threatened?" he asked, turning toward Kakashi only to find him staring at those kids with - love - in his eyes. Kakashi Hatake, love in his eyes after his terrible childhood - a miracle.

"Many times. Naruto especially. They - as long as they have each other, they have no care in the world. They're so unique - they share chakra pools, can access each other's Chakra Natures with no effort whatsover. Naruto uses wind, Sakura uses water and earth, and Sasuke fire and lightning. Naruto has mastery over many B-rank and below jutsu, even a couple of A-rank, and Sakura has her - shield thing. And Sasuke, his taijutsu is just -" Kakashi shook his head. "So similar to a late friend of mines I actually am teaching him the Hummingbird. Together, they almost defeated me. They would have, if not for my Sharingan."

"Seriously?" Jiraiya asked, his eyes wide as he stared at the three kids. The Uchiha - Sasuke - was staring at his fire, grief and anger in his eyes, but a jab from Naruto and Jiraiya spotted a tiny smirk on his face.

"They're - very powerful."

"Very stupid, too, for trying to save my life like that."

"Yeah…"

At that moment, Naruto leapt up and stalked over to Jiraiya, who stared up at the kid with apprehension as Naruto pointed at him.

"Teach me how Minato-sama worked the Flying Raijin Jutsu. Look, I've made the seal, I just can't teleport."

 _WHAT?_

Jiraiya snatched the kunai from Naruto and stared down at the seals that were written there with absolute awe.

"How - you're teaching him Flying Raijin?" He asked Kakashi.

"Yes. Naruto is learning Flying Raijin, Sasuke is learning the Hummingbird, and Sakura is learning a varient of her Cero that stretches as far as she wants. I could potentially tell her to fuse it with Kyuubi Chakra, but…"

They were interruped as Naruto tugged at Jiraiya's sleeve.

"Well? Is it right? Why won't it work?"

"It's right for sure," Jiraiya replied, chucking the kunai in the air and then throwing it across the forest.

"Wha-" Naruto exclaimed, then cut off as Jiraiya lunged at him, kunai in hand and aimed over Naruto's heart.

"HEY!" Kakashi yelled, but Jiraiya's kunai was already falling toward Naruto's heart. Sasuke and Sakura lunged toward him, but they all stopped when Jiraiya's kunai met empty air.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked.

In response, a kunai appeared in front of their faces, and Naruto appeared there before seizing the kunai and landing on the ground fluidly.

"I DID IT!"

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 **He did it!**

 **Review...?**


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